Review of Events Involving Slovenia in the Week from 9 through 15 September

Ljubljana, 16 September - Prime Minister Andrej Bajuk last week attended a meeting of prime ministers from countries of the trilateral partnership between Slovenia, Hungary and Italy. The meeting was a historic one, since the trilateral partnership was joined by Croatia. In the Vatican, Bajuk was received by Pope John Paul II and State Secretary of the Holy See, Cardinal Angelo Sodano.

Foreign Minister Lojze Peterle held a number of bilateral meetings in New York on the sidelines of the autumn session of the 55th UN General Assembly. The meetings centred on Slovenia's bid to join NATO and the succession of former Yugoslavia.

Speaker of Parliament Janez Podobnik in Zagreb attended a meeting of parliamentary speakers from the countries participating in the Stability Pact for SE Europe. Defence Minister Janez Jansa paid an official visit to London, while the Hungarian Defence Minister Janos Szabo visited Ljubljana. Slovene President Milan Kucan returned from the UN Millennium Summit and attended the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Sydney.

The week on the inner political scene passed in the expectation of the upcoming parliamentary elections, although the election campaign was officially launched on Friday, 15 September. On Saturday, the election convention of the Liberal Democrats (LDS) and the congress of the Social Democrats (SDS) took place, and on Sunday the SLS+SKD Slovene People's Party organised a gathering. Throughout the week, the parties drafted the list of candidates to perform at the elections, while the National Assembly held its last session in this term, as the election campaign officially began.