NEWS

Prime Minister Borut Pahor visits traditional event 'Vinska vigred' in Metlika

The Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, Borut Pahor, in the evening attended a traditional event 'Vinska vigred' in Bela krajina, where, in opening, said, “It is my pleasure to attend such a festival, a top tourist and wine event, which is, thanks to the high quality winemakers of Bela krajina, also of international importance. Along with the fact that in Bela krajina there are only 3% of Slovenia's vineyards, which, in most cases, are small and fragmented, an important number of top winemakers developed in the region, who have properly focused on high quality; they present their products on demanding markets where they achieve excellent results.”

  

(Photo: Daniel Novakovič/STA)

    

The Prime Minister Pahor went on to say that, however, the successes of the winemakers did not give a realistic picture of the development situation in Bela krajina, noting that, “The Government which I lead, very early and timely detected deterioration of economic and social indices in this region. For this reason, a Development Council for Bela krajina, which was established after the Government visited Bela krajina in February this year, will form a strategy and propose and discuss measures for development of this area.” A new mode of integration of development interests of the Government and the region will also be included in a new Draft Promotion of Balanced Regional Development Act, which is in the final phase of expert preparation and, according to the programme of the Government’s work, is to be adopted by the end of the year.
       
In the conclusion of his address, the Prime Minister emphasised the importance of an excellent cross-border cooperation, which people of Bela krajina had developed over the years with the neighbouring municipalities of the Republic of Croatia and drew attention to the forthcoming referendum on the Arbitration Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Slovenia and the Government of the Republic of Croatia, mentioning that “This is also an important development decision for Bela krajina. The people of Bela krajina are those in our country who can best understand the importance and urgency to resolve the open issues with the neighbouring Republic of Croatia, the issues which burden and hinder greater cross-border economic cooperation.”