Ministers meet
STA, 19 April 2018 - Foreign Minister Karl Erjavec met on Thursday Russian Minister of Communications and Mass Media Nikolay Nikiforov, who is visiting Slovenia. The pair discussed economic ties between the countries, the Slovenian Foreign Ministry said in a press release.
The ministers shared the view that economic cooperation has been growing in recent years: trade is on the increase, as are direct investments and the number of tourists.
Erjavec and Nikiforov believe that the countries' intergovernmental commission should no longer focus only on the economy, but start supporting projects in science and research as well.
Nikoforov is in Slovenia for a conference on space technology that took place this morning and a business forum dedicated to cutting-edge space technologies, organised tomorrow by the investment promotion agency Spirit and the Russian space agency ROSCOSMOS.
Tomorrow, a working group of the intergovernmental commission will also meet in Ljubljana to review ongoing developments and prepare for a session of the commission planned for the second half of the year.
Slovenian-Russian Cultural Forum strengthens cultural links
The STA also reports that the two-day Slovenian-Russian Cultural Forum, the first such meeting designed to boost cultural links between the two nations, came to a close in Ljubljana on Thursday with officials noting the many opportunities to enhance cooperation, in particular in the area of film.
Organised by the Culture Ministry in cooperation with its Russian counterpart, the Russian Embassy in Ljubljana and the Forum of Slavic Cultures, the meeting brought together government and local officials, and representatives of cultural institutions.
They discussed ways to upgrade cooperation between theatre and music institutions, museums, galleries, libraries, film and cultural heritage institutions, and exchanged examples of best practice.
After Wednesday's plenary session the institutions discussed concrete cooperation at separate panels, followed by a closing strategic session at Vila Podrožnik on Thursday.
"There is a strong desire, will and a host of opportunities for intensive cooperation and to enhance links in all fields of culture, from cultural heritage to new artistic genres and classic ones such as literature, film and music," Culture Minister Tone Peršak said.
Russian Deputy Culture Minister Alla Manilova pledged Russia's political support to help build links and the promise that the country would take even stronger role in the Ljubljana-based Forum of Slavic Cultures.
The forum's director Andreja Rihter was happy about concrete agreements reached at the meeting, listing the many instances of cultural exchange between the two countries, including Slovenia's participation at the world's biggest international museum festival in Moscow.
Russian authors are taking part in the 50th International Writers' Meeting in Slovenia's Bled this week, while Slovenian authors will make their appearance at the Moscow book fair for the third time this year, as well as in Leo Tolstoy's Yasnaya Polyana next year.
Noting performances by Russian artists at the Ljubljana Festival, among other things, Rihter noted in particular the potential of cooperation in the area of film, adding that cultural institutions now had "a free hand to initiate whatever they want".
