NEWS

Prime Minister Pahor: "It's nice to come to a tidy country"

The Slovenian Prime Minister Borut Pahor and the  Minister of the Environment Rok Žarnić today attended a press conference at the Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning where they outlined the campaign entitled Let Us Clean Slovenia in One Day.  They touched upon the problem of illegal waste dumping, illegal dump sites and measures aimed at improving the efficiency of the waste management system. In this regard, Prime Minister Pahor said: "Tomorrow's campaign will contribute to a common goal, i.e. that a clean environment is one of the basic premises of its preservation and to this end, every one of us can really do a lot." He also announced that he would visit the Kolezija Primary School in Ljubljana and, together with the pupils, take part in the clean-up campaign.

    

(Photo: Stanko Gruden/STA)

     

Minister Žarnić commented that we could fight against illegal waste dumping by applying a series of measures, including rehabilitation of illegal dump sites, higher frequency of bulk waste removal, designation of dump sites, provision of education and information to citizens, monitoring and guidance, as well as strengthening of cooperation between waste management companies and inspectors. The two main reasons for the development of illegal waste dumping areas are the existing waste sites in need of rehabilitation that attract illegal waste dumpers, and legal and natural persons avoiding the payment of costs for legal waste dumping.  Prime Minister Pahor stressed that we should not forget what a beautiful country we have and that it is therefore our responsibility to keep it tidy and, above all, clean for the present and future generations.  

      
At the end of the press conference, Prime Minister Pahor and the Minister of the Environment, Rok Žarnič, also touched upon clean environment in tourism. In this respect, Prime Minister Pahor said:  "When we speak of tourism and the comparative advantages of Slovenia as a relatively small but highly diverse country offering its guests ski slopes and beaches on a very small, geographically versatile terrain, we must first have in mind that the country must be clean." The slogan and the title of Slovenia's new tourist strategy to be discussed at the Government session in Lipica in the middle of May, is high-quality, affordable, green and healthy tourism.