Slovenian, Italian foreign ministers to discuss bilateral issues
Ljubljana, 29 October - Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon and her Italian counterpart Antonio Tajani will co-chair the 8th session of the Coordinating Committee of Ministers of Slovenia and Italy at Brdo pri Kranju estate on Tuesday. Bilateral cooperation in a number of areas will be discussed. The last such meeting was held in Rome in 2021.
Ljubljana
Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon hosting Italian counterpart Antonio Tajani.
Photo: Bor Slana/STA
Fajon and Tajani will chair the plenary meeting of the home affairs, economy, energy, environment, transport and agriculture ministers or their deputies, and will sign a joint declaration at the end of the meeting, the Foreign Ministry said.
The Slovenian and Italian delegations are expected to discuss outstanding bilateral issues and topical European and international issues.
Fajon met with representatives of the Slovenian minority in Italy in mid-October in preparation for the meeting. They raised in particular the issues of education and political representation of the national minority in Italy - both at regional and national levels.
The Slovenian minority in Italy has been striving for a while to get a permanent representative in the Italian parliament. In March this year, they welcomed the decision of an Italian Senate committee to endorse an amendment to the electoral law, which should make it easier for the Slovenian minority to elect MPs and senators.
Business cooperation will also be on the agenda. According to the Export Window portal, Slovenia exported EUR 4.7 billion worth of goods to Italy in 2023, while importing almost EUR 6 billion. This makes Italy Slovenia's third most important trading partner last year.
The ministers will also discuss migration and border protection, which topped the agenda of a meeting of the interior ministers of Slovenia, Italy and Croatia in the summer. At the time, Italian Minister Matteo Piantedosi praised the cooperation with Slovenia and said that the border controls Italy introduced last October had not significantly affected freedom of movement.
At their last meeting this month he said that efforts to strengthen the tripartite cooperation were aimed at lifting the temporary checks as soon as possible.
Another good example of Slovenian-Italian cooperation is the joint project of the European Capital of Culture of Nova Gorica and Italy's Gorizia, which starts in February 2025.
Fajon and Tajani might also discuss the EU enlargement to the Western Balkans, a top priority of the Slovenian foreign policy and a key topic discussed at the last meeting of the Coordinating Committee in Rome in June 2021, which was chaired by the then ministers Anže Logar and Luigi Di Maio.