STA, 9 August 2022 - Public broadcaster TV Slovenija has reported of yet another grave case of exploitation of foreign workers in Slovenia. Indian workers were reportedly forced to work 60-hour weeks at a Ljubljana car wash for less than the minimum wage after having their passports taken away. Amonte, the company operating the car wash, has denied the allegations.

TV Slovenija reported on Tuesday that the group of Indians ran away from the Avtostop car wash, located near the BTC shopping district, because of grave threats levelled at them by the employer.

Two of them turned for help to Delavska Svetovalnica, an NGO specialising in the rights of migrant workers.

The 12 men were staying on the premises of the employer and one of them has said that assistant director of the company would come to their bedrooms drunk at night.

He allegedly threatened the workers that their employer knew national and local politicians and had connections in the police and the military.

The Financial Administration, the Labour Inspectorate and the police conducted separate oversight visits at the firm in July, TV Slovenia said, adding that the procedures were still ongoing.

The day before the Labour Inspectorate visited the company, the men were given back their passports, after which they were taken away from them once again. The frightened workers then called the police.

Goran Lukić of Delavska Svetovalnica said that "the employer is obviously in the know about potential oversight visits".

Amonte director Semir Hajdarpašić meanwhile rejected the allegations, but refused to appear on camera. He believes this is an attempt at blackmail.

The workers had been complaining about work conditions from the beginning, had demanded higher pay and then disappeared, he said. He also believes the workers used his company to continue their way to Northern Europe.

The report comes just two months after modern slavery reports at two fish-packing companies employing foreign workers.

STA, 27 April 2022 - Paying a visit to India, Foreign Minister Anže Logar met his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on the sidelines of the Raisina Dialogue 2022 forum in New Delhi to discuss several issues, including the war in Ukraine and cooperation between Slovenia and India.

Logar and Jaishankar lauded cooperation between the Bled Strategic Forum and Indian organisation ORF, which holds the annual Raisina Dialogue. They also touched upon cooperation between the two countries on a multilateral level, the Slovenian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.

Talking about the war in Ukraine, Logar stressed the need to respect the universal values enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, and noted the EU's strong and united response to the developments.

?????

Minister @AnzeLog begins his visit to #India by meeting with Foreign Minister @DrSJaishankar. They called for continued cooperation between @raisinadialogue and the @BledStratForum and went on to discuss current geopolitical topics, including the war in #Ukraine ??. pic.twitter.com/STtBxKqZUL

— MFA Slovenia (@MZZRS) April 25, 2022

The ministers discussed the consequences of the war on Europe and the Indo-Pacific region, particularly in the areas of security and energy.

Logar started a three-day visit to India on Monday during which he also attended a concert marking the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Slovenia and India, where he stressed that the two countries had significantly strengthened their relations over the past two years.

After the concert, he met with Slovenia's honorary consuls in India, with whom he discussed the opportunities that the Indian market presents for Slovenian companies.

He was also a panellist at a round-table debate on the relation between security and economic interests in Europe and the Indo-Pacific, where he argued against the use of double standards when it comes to Russia's aggression against Ukraine. "Only a strong response from the international community will send a clear signal to other autocrats around the world," he noted.

Moreover, Logar was received by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Attending Raisina Dialogue 2022, he held a number of other bilateral talks in addition to the meeting with Jaishankar.

On the sidelines of the forum, Logar held bilateral talks with Madagascar's Foreign Minister Richard Randriamandrato, Nigeria's Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama, and Kwaku Ampratwum Sarpong, deputy foreign minister of Ghana. He discussed with them multilateral issues, development cooperation and preparations for this year's Africa Day, the ministry said in a press release.

STA, 18 January 2022 - Prime Minister Janez Janša revealed in an interview with the Indian public service broadcaster Doordarshan that Slovenia and Taiwan are "work[ing] on exchanging representatives". He was critical of China over its response to the decision by Lithuania to open a diplomatic representation office in Taipei.

Janša noted that the mentioned exchange of representatives between Slovenia and Taiwan would not take place at the level of embassies, as it would take place at the "same level that many EU countries already have."

Much of the half an hour interview aired on Monday revolved around China, with the Slovenian prime minister pointing to the country's responsibility for the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

He said that "we have to discuss this issue" and to "make the Chinese accountable" for "not acting in good faith" when it comes to notifying the rest of the world about the threat of the novel coronavirus in a timely manner.

As for Taiwan, Janša said that Slovenia would support any sovereign decision of the Taiwanese people. "If they want to join China ... without any pressure, military intervention, blackmailing or strategic cheating as it is happening in Hong Kong currently, we will support it".

"But if the Taiwanese people want to live independently, we also have to support this position," Janša added.

He criticised China for its response to Lithuania announcing the opening of a diplomatic representation office in Taiwan and a Taiwanese diplomatic mission in Lithuania with trade restrictions.

Janša noted that "a vast majority of EU member states hold a kind of representative office with Taiwan" and that there were some slight differences in the naming of the missions, which was however not significant.

While China protested the opening of such offices by some European countries, "they never went so far as they did in this case", the prime minister said, adding that it was "terrifying" to try to isolate a country in such a way.

"The EU has formally backed Lithuania, and I think that any kind of pressure on Lithuania and some other countries in Europe will not benefit China's government. Good trade relations are in the common interest."

Commenting on the relations between Russia and the EU and NATO in relation to the crisis in Ukraine, Janša spoke about the possibility of "coordination between Beijing and Moscow" in instigating crises in order to put pressure on NATO.

"If somebody is pushed to deal with two major crises in two different parts of the world, they have to split their diplomatic, economic and military efforts. This is why those threats are somehow linked, coordinated."

As for Slovenian-Indian relations, Janša noted the visit to Slovenia by Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar at the Bled Strategic Forum last September, when the situation in the Indo-Pacific region was discussed.

The prime minister assessed that "despite all the problems with Russia and Ukraine, the key issue now is the Indo-Pacific", adding that "India is a crucial country for balancing these tensions and for this part of the globe to live in peace."

Despite the growing number of Chinese restaurants, Slovenia still isn’t a great place for non-European food, and it’s only in the last decade or so that Ljubljana itself has seen more diversity with regard to its dining offers. Much of the excitement there is concentrated on and around Trubarjeva cesta, the colourful but rapidly gentrifying street that runs from Prešeren Square towards one or two of centres of contemporary culture, the Metelkova-Gallery-Museum quarter, and the newly opened Cukrarna.

I lived on the street my first few years in Slovenia, one of the less vibrant members of the immigrant community, albeit one with a long and abiding interest in the spicier end of cuisine towards the other end of Eurasia. Which is why when chef Ziauddin Ahmed started serving food from the subcontinent at Hotel Park (now the B&B) a few years ago I was a very happy customer, joining many others who travelled from far further afield to enjoy his work.

See the full menu. Photo: Zaika

I left Ljubljana two years ago, just at the end of 2019 and a few months before the lockdown put the hotels, restaurants, bars, cafés, clubs and so on through the worst times anyone can recall, and it’s already clear that when this whole mess finally ends the scene will have changed significantly, with some businesses closing, others successfully evolving.

One of those changes to the scene involves Ziauddin, who in March of this year took over the small space at Trubarjeva 60 that previously hosted the Bangladesh restaurant. The place (Zaika) was fully cleaned and renovated, and set up for takeaway and delivery service, making best use of the small space and central location to bring colourful, exotic, and delicious new tastes to the street, with meat, vegetarian and vegan options.
 

Ziauddin Ahmed, photographed in another location. Photo: JL Flanner

I know Ziauddin from way back, so here’s a little of his story and that of Zaika, which you should check out and support if you’d like more of this kind of thing in town.

How did you end up in Ljubljana?
I’m from Kolkata, West Bengal. I did my master’s degree in the hotel industry. After that I got a job in a five-star super-deluxe hotel, the Hyatt Regency Kolkata. So I started my career from there, and I worked there four and a half years, then I got a chance to come to Ljubljana as the head chef of Figovec, when it was an Indian restaurant, called Currylife Figovec, and then I worked at Hotel Park for a few years, until COVID changed everything.

Are people here open to trying Indian food?
Yes, many people in Ljubljana love Indian food– but still many of them are scared of trying it because their perception is that it’s very spicy, maybe there’s no option for vegans, and the like.

Slovenia is still a young country, so I feel it will take little more time for people to get used to Asian flavours, dishes and spices. That said, recipes are not written in the Bible, so you can change them and make good food according to a customer’s taste-buds and choice, they just need to let me know before I start cooking. To my mind, that’s the real difference between a chef and a cook. A cook just follows the recipe, but a chef can adapt it and always make something that pleases all of the senses, no matter what needs to be changed.

See the full menu. Photo: Zaika

How do you like Slovenia?
I like it very, very much. That’s why I came back. It’s a really beautiful country. I like nature and I am not a person for very crowded places, so i can say it’s perfect for me.

You also have a mixed culture. Most of the year – when there’s no epidemic – the city is dominated by tourists from all over of the world.so you can also enjoy the different cultured people here. And that’s a very beautiful thing about this country. Not overpopulated, very nice people, very friendly.

What about the winters?
Honestly, I’d never experienced that kind of temperatures in my entire life . At my birthplace temperature goes maximum 10 degrees Celsius, and we think “oh, it’s too cold”. When I came here it was minus 15. I was scared that I’d die. But the human body can acclimatise very quickly. Now it’s become normal.

What about Slovenian food?
Well, as a Muslim I can’t eat pork, so when I go out I’m always a little bit scared, because most Slovenian traditional foods are dominated by pork or use pork fat to enhance the flavour. But I like štrukli, žlikrofi, prazen krompir, pasta, although bolognese, again, I worry there’s a little pork fat in there, because fat always gives a good taste.

See the full menu. Photo: Zaika

How many people are working at the new place?

I’d like to get some help with the cooking, but until then I’m the only person here – ordering the ingredients, cooking the food, keeping the place clean and the customers happy.Enter

Who are your customers, and what things sell well?
I get both tourists and locals, because that’s who comes to Trubarjeva. There’s a great slection of Indian curries, but the best-selling items  are chicken makhani, tikka masala, subz diwani, hundi kofta, nazakat and naan.

Zaika offers service, takeaway and delivery of meat, vegetarian and vegan dishes from 11 – 21:00 Mon-Saturday. iIt’s very easy to find at 60 Trubarjeva cesta, just down from the famed Trubar café, home to among the best doughnuts in Ljubljana, and – incredibly – still in business after I left town and stopped drinking there.

See the full menu. Photo: Zaika

That café, cake and ice cream store is in good company with the many other small eateries, bars and boutiques that make Trubarjeva a must-see street that’s easy to overlook but much easier, and more fun, to visit, leaving you well-positioned for the various attractions there or just a short distance away, or a pleasant walk along the river, perhaps with an ice cream in hand and your heart open to the life of the city.

STA, 22 April 2021 - The government has decided to expand the exceptions for quarantine-free entry into Slovenia to people vaccinated with the Chinese and Indian produced Covid-19 vaccines. It has also made several changes to border restrictions. The new decree will enter into force on Sunday, while some new rules will start to apply on Monday.

Under the new rules, quarantine-free entry to Slovenia will be possible with a negative PCR test not older than 48 hours issued also in the UK or US, not only the EU or Schengen Area countries.

Those who recovered from Covid-19 must present a positive result of a PCR test that must be at least 10 days old and not older than six months unless the person's doctor says otherwise. A doctor's notice that a person recovered from Covid-19 also suffices if no more than six months has passed since the start of the symptoms.

Acceptable are documents issued in the EU, Schengen Area, the UK and US.

The list of vaccines that enable quarantine-free entry to the country has been expanded from Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, and Russian Sputnik V to also include Indian Serum Institute/AstraZeneca and Chinese Sinovac Biotech and Sinopharm.

People returning from business trips abroad who have a negative PCR test that is not older than three days will no longer be required to be tested again. This will apply to members of the police force, other state bodies and accredited journalists and will take effect on Monday.

Those crossing the border to help other persons or do maintenance work on their real estate will now have three days to return to the country. This too will enter into force on Monday.

Quarantine-free entry into Slovenia with a negative test taken within the last three days is also being allowed to citizens of EU or Schengen Area countries who have been to one of those countries for up to 72 hours to provide care or assistance to family members or persons in need of care, or to do maintenance work at a private property they own, lease or use.

The red list of EU and Schengen zone countries was amended for Finland [ed. with Uusimaa, Southern Finland and Western Finland on the list], and Malta was removed from the list. Barbados is off the list of red third countries, while Malaysia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines were added to it, the Government Communication Office said on Wednesday.

If you’re travelling within the EU, check out the official “Open EU” webpage to see what’s possible

How did you come to live in Slovenia?

I moved to Slovenia in March 2018 to be with my fiancée, now wife, Anita, who’s a Slovenian national. I first met her via Couchsurfing in 2015. She asked me many questions about travelling around India. Unfortunately, we never met up at that time as I was out of Delhi on a tour, however we remained in contact. At the end of 2016 we arranged to do a month-long yoga teaching course in Rishikesh together and from there on it was a bit like a Bollywood movie … love at first sight!

After the course we did some motorbike touring up into Nepal before Anita returned to Prague. In 2017 she returned to India again for six months, during which time she lived with my family. Eventually, I joined her in Slovenia in March 2018 and we got married in India a year later, then came back to Slovenia in April to make our lives here.

What work have you been doing here?

Before COVID I was driving tourists around Slovenia, teaching yoga, Indian food cooking and Ajurvedic massages. I got into the first business in India, where my family has a travel agency, Adventure Holiday Tours in Delhi, India. Back home my work was to show visitors around the India organize their tours with our private English-speaking drivers. Our company has a great team of drivers, and a very good reputation online because we made sure that everyone enjoyed their tour with us. So when I came to Slovenia I started a similar company after I received my work permit – Adventure Holiday Tours, Tarun Sharma.

How was your business affected by the pandemic?

Since April last year we’ve only had three to five of giving tours in total for Slovenia. Luckily I was able to get the COVID support from the government since October, and I’ve been giving online yoga classes. However, this has badly affected our family business in India, as since April last year the country stopped tourist visas and nobody’s been coming to visit. And so no work for the drivers who’ve been working for my fathers company in Delhi, India.

Yes, you now have a project to help the drivers – can you tell us about that?

Sure, I’m trying to help the drivers and their families who’ve been working for my dad’s company over 10 years in India. They’ve been great to all the tourists visiting India and making sure they enjoyed their stay. Now since April last year they haven’t had any work. My dad helped them, but he also doesn't have any work now and so I want to raise some funds for them so that we can help them to open some other business and make a living until tourism starts again.

How can people learn more?

Here’s a link where people can read more, and also make a donation or just share the link to spread the message. Even just €10 provides a lot of help. https://www.ketto.org/fundraiser/families-in-need-due-to-no-foreign-tourism-in-india

The University of Ljubljana (Univerza v Ljubljani) has issued a warning that a number of individuals, the majority from India, have been sent fake letters of acceptance, along with a request for tuition to be paid.

If you did not apply to the University of Ljubljana, then any acceptance letter you receive is false. If you did apply but the letter you received seems suspicious, then you’re advised to look out for these four warning signs:

• Does the letter ask you to send money to certain account? The University never sends letters that ask this.
• Is the name of the faculty or academy correct? There’s a list of the official names here if you are not sure.
• Are any email addresses for the University correct? All official email addresses have the suffix @uni-lj.si.
• Is the letter signed by Vice-Dean Gabor Janos Vamos? The University has Vice-Rectors, and no Janos Vamos works there.

The University also provides two examples of false letters, PDF form (False letter 1; False letter 2).

According to a report by Regina Mihindukulasuriya, published on ThePrint, India was the country subject to the most cyber-attacks country in the world for three months in 2019, during April, May and June, based on data compiled by Subex, a Bengaluru-based company providing analytics to telecom and communication service providers.

Of note for readers of TSN, the highest number of cyber-attacks targeting India in 2019 originated in Slovenia (74,988 attacks). This was followed by Ukraine (55,772), Czech Republic (53,609), China (50,000), and Mexico (35, 201).. The attacks are said to have targeted critical infrastructure, followed by banking, defence and manufacturing.

But why Slovenia? To quote the article, which can be read in full here:

A cyber-security expert who didn’t want to be identified told ThePrint that Slovenia tops the list as Russian state actors may be employing botnets in that country to keep an eye on India’s critical infrastructure in the oil, gas and telecom sectors.

Prayukth of Subex also told ThePrint that while an attack can be traced back to a certain physical location, it is not possible to ascertain who is controlling the botnets.

Botnets physically located in one country, he added, can be leased out to clients based in another country for as low as 30 US cents...

The same report states that the most cyber-attacked countries in 2019 was the US, followed by India, the UK, Singapore, Ukraine, UAE, Nigeria, Japan, South Korea and Spain.

All our stories on India and Slovenia can be found here

How long have you been living in Slovenia, and where do you live?
I moved to Slovenia in March 2018 to be with my fiancée Anita who is a Slovenian national. We are currently living in Ljubljana, where Anita works.

I first met her via Couchsurfing in 2015. She asked me many questions about travelling around India. Unfortunately, we never met up at that time as I was out of Delhi on a tour, however we remained in contact. At the end of 2016 we arranged to do a month long yoga teaching course in Rishikesh together and from there on it was a bit like a Bollywood movie … love at first sight!

After the course we did some motorbike touring up into Nepal before Anita returned to Prague. In 2017 she returned to India again for 6 months, during which time she lived with my family. Eventually, I joined her in Slovenia in March 2018 and we got married in India a year later, then came back to Slovenia in April to make our lives here.

How do you find living in Slovenia so far? Any major obstacles?
The decision to move to Slovenia was hard, because I’d never considered living outside of India prior to meeting Anita. Obviously getting a visa was the biggest obstacle, but since I got my working/living permit for Slovenia things are improving.

That said, many things here are more expensive than in India. The language was difficult at the beginning, but now I can understand people well and also speak okay, as my free 180-hour Slovene language course is still going on. I’m also a resident in Slovenia, and can work freely. The process was easy, but it took five months before I received my documents.

What has been your experience of culture shock?
The culture here in Slovenia is very different to India and the way of living is really very different then what I am used to, but I am lucky to have knowledge of yoga philosophy, which really helps me accept people in general wherever I go.

How do you feel about Slovenian food and drink?
Since I am vegetarian I cook my own Indian food mostly at home, and I do love Slovenian food too, as my mother-in-law really cook lots of different veggie meals for me and my wife. We both love it, and I must say there is lots of nice vegetarian food here as well.

What things frustrate you about life in Slovenia?
Nothing really frustrater’s me about life here. I just wish people in general would know that when they get angry they’re harming themselves more than anyone else, such as when they’re driving.

What things delight you?
I love hiking and Slovenia has delighted me with all the beautiful hikes, paths and views. The lakes are really amazing, and now I’ve swum in most of the Slovenian lakes already, and hiked to the top of Triglav.

What do you do for work here?
When I left my school in 2007 I joined my dad in our family-based travel agency, Adventure Holiday Tours in Delhi, India. My work in India was to show visitors around the country and organize their tours with our private English-speaking drivers. Our company has a great team of drivers, and a very good reputation online because we made sure that everyone enjoyed their India Tour with us. Now here in Slovenia I started a similar company since I received my work permit – Adventure Holiday Tours, Tarun Sharma s.p.

My wife and I travelled around a lot of Slovenia before I received my permit to live and work here, she showed me the parts that even a lot of Slovenians haven’t been too. This was great, since my background is showing people around and making sure they enjoy their time, whether it’s in India or Slovenia. I am happy to say that it’s going well, and I’ve also put together a good team of local English-speaking drivers who work for me when I am not available.

If you want to learn more about the tours of Slovenia you can visit our website, Adventure Holiday Tours Slovenia., and take a look at the TripAdvisor reviews.

Slovenian food isn’t very colourful or spicy – is that a problem for your clients?
I have clients from India and all over the world. Indian clients always prefer Indian food or vegetarian food and since I know lots of good vegetarian places around Slovenia, it makes a lot easier for them.

Do your clients usually come to visit only Slovenia, or is it combined with other countries?
When people come to me, they come to visit Slovenia and also nearby places like Venice, Vienna, Zagreb and Plitvice lakes in Croatia, and even further, like Prague.

Where do you usually take people in Slovenia?
I usually take people to all the must-see sights, like Lake Bled, Lake Bohinj, Lake Jasna, Soča Valley, Kobarid, Skočjan Cave, Postojna Cave, Piran, Portorož , hiking to Velika Planina, Logar Valley, Lake Jezersko, Ptuj and a lot more places where even my Slovene friends haven’t been.

So far Slovenia Lake Bled and Postojna Caves are the most popular places with my clients, and the wine-tasting tours, along with visiting the country to experience Slovene village life, are also very well liked.

And you also take people from Slovenia on tours of India?
Yes, I started a Yoga retreat tour plan so that I can go back home myself and show Slovenians the best of India. It’s a very different country, and to experience India you must really be open and except it as it is. For Yoga Retreat Plan you can visit my website.

You also teach yoga, meditation, give massages and have cooking classes. What’s your background with all that?
As an Indian, yoga philosophy is always around every family, and I practiced yoga in school. My wife and I did a Yoga Teacher Training Course in India together in 2016, and continued to practice after this. We mainly did the course for our own and our family’s health. When we made the decision to move to Slovenia I started Yoga Classes and Ajurveda Marma Massages in Ljubljana Slovenia yoga studio. I started to love the feeling of showing people how to breathe properly and how to work with asanas (yoga postures), which can help the body/mind feel relaxed.

I teach Hatha Yoga, Vinyasa Yoga, Pranayama, Yoga Nidra and meditation. For me it`s very important to get people to have more awareness of their body/mind so that they can start taking care of themselves. Most of the time we are too busy with work and we forget to make time for the most important things – “our body”, “our mind” and “our health”.

I did a few Ajurveda courses and one of my favourite was Ajurvedic Marma Massage therapy course. Marmas are the pressure points throughout our body that help in proper circulation / flow and also relax the nervous system. It can help people who have stress, depression or are suffering from some pain in the body. People can already feel the benefit of the massage within a day, and the changes in the body. If you want to learn more about Yoga classes or Marma Massages you can visit my website.

I also teach Traditional Indian food cooking classes. This includes variety of different lentil dishes as well as vegetable dishes. I have spices from India which makes my food lessons interesting and makes the dishes taste like real Indian food in India. I learned most of my cooking from my mom. We provide Indian food cooking classes in our Delhi home to visitors, and I love to share the similar experience for the locals in Slovenia.

STA, 16 September 2019 - President Borut Pahor and Indian President Ram Nath Kovind reaffirmed their commitment to boost cooperation and friendship between their countries, as they met in Ljubljana on Monday. They also stressed the importance of global partnership and multilateralism. Pahor accepted an invitation to India.

Pahor said during the talks with Kovind, the first Indian president to visit the country, that India is the largest country in the world and one of the biggest democracies, where the implementation of the rule of law and human rights could be an example to other countries.

To je prvi obisk predsednika Republike Indije v Republiki Sloveniji in kot takšen pomeni odlično priložnost za dodaten zagon že tako dobrih odnosov med državama in za poglobitev političnega dialoga ter gospodarskega sodelovanja. V okviru obiska bo potekal poslovni forum. pic.twitter.com/Q8OJXlbWjk

— Borut Pahor (@BorutPahor) September 16, 2019

The pair reviewed bilateral and multilateral cooperation, reaffirming their commitment to multilateralism. While agreeing that it needed some changes, they stressed that it represented a safe environment for humanity to tackle the most sensitive and important challenges, from climate change to terrorism.

Discussing terrorism, the presidents exchanged views on the situation in Kashmir. Kovinda said terrorism was one of the biggest challenges of humanity and the presidents agreed that the whole world would have to join forces to defeat it.

Kovinda stressed that the fight against cross-border terrorism was very important for India.

The Indian president also pointed to the historical ties between Slovenia and India, saying they were based on shared cultural and democratic values.

He added that he and Pahor had agreed to strengthen bilateral ties and global partnership.

The presidents signed a statement after the meeting, calling for the strengthening of economic ties. Pahor noted that the two countries posted half a billion euro in goods trade a year and that trade was rising at a 30% rate.

Kovind is accompanied by a business delegation, featuring representatives of 20 Indian companies who will attend a Slovenian-Indian business forum in the afternoon. The two presidents will address the forum.

Kovind said he was pleasantly surprised by Slovenia's technological progress and its achievements in the international arena. It has become a pioneer in environment and forests conservation, he said.

According to the president, India will have more than five billion inhabitants by 2025. The country would like to cooperate with Slovenia in science, know-how and innovation to support this growth.

Predsednik Republike Slovenije Borut Pahor in gospa Tanja Pečar danes in jutri na prvem uradnem obisku v Sloveniji gostita predsednika Republike Indije Rama Natha Kovinda s soprogo. pic.twitter.com/jZCbNCiKuo

— Borut Pahor (@BorutPahor) September 16, 2019

On the sidelines of the presidential visit, several agreements were signed between the two countries' governments and companies.

Government representatives signed a programme of cooperation in culture, arts, education, sports and media for the 2019-2014 period, and a programme of cooperation in science and technology in 2020-2022.

The Slovenian Institute for Standardization and the Bureau of Indian Standards signed an agreement on technical cooperation in standardisation.

The Indian president believes the agreements signed today will enhance the cultural and economic ties between the two countries.

Kovind will conclude the two-day official visit on Tuesday, when he and his spouse visit the lakeside resort of Bled.

Pahor noted that he had hosted two Indian prime ministers, Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi, and that the ties between India and Slovenia go back to the period before Slovenia's independence.

President Kovind led delegation-level talks with President @BorutPahor of Slovenia. Both leaders discussed cooperation in high-tech, clean technology, robotics and Artificial Intelligence. pic.twitter.com/srRszXRsgp

— President of India (@rashtrapatibhvn) September 16, 2019

He also stressed the importance of Mahatma Gandhi for humanity, as India celebrates the 150th anniversary of his birth this year.

Kovinda expressed gratitude that Slovenia was nurturing this heritage, including by issuing a special stamp next month.

He also congratulated Slovenia on initiating World Bee Day, which New Delhi has also backed.

Kovinda met Prime Minister Marjan Šarec at Ljubljana Caste this afternoon and is also scheduled to meet parliamentary Speaker Dejan Židan.

All out stories about India are here