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Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, 
attendance at the 15th Bled Strategic

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Forum was higher than ever 
before. Two presidents,

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seven prime ministers, six foreign 
ministers, a high representative of the EU

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and many others discussed the 
future of the EU after the pandemic

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and Brexit. The opening panel, 
attended by Prime Minister Janša,

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the prime ministers of Hungary, 
Croatia, the Czech Republic,

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Poland and Bulgaria and 
the president of Serbia in person,

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and by the prime minister of Italy 
and director of the International

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Monetary Fund through a video conference, 
focused on the future of Europe

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after the COVID-19 pandemic and 
seeking solutions to overcome future crises.

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In this respect, new EU Member States 
have shown more confidence

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and even provide their own solutions.

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Slovenia is open. As you know, 
it hosted the US Secretary of State

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for the first time in more than 
two decades. In any case,

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I can say that in the last five months 
we have put Slovenia's

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foreign policy back 
on the diplomatic map.

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The leaders stressed 
the importance of a joint

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agreement on the creation of a 
€750 billion pandemic recovery fund,

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approved by the EU summit in mid-July. 
In their discussion, the foreign ministers

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emphasised that the crucial focus 
of the activities in the coming months

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should be on the recovery 
of those economies

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severely affected by the pandemic. 
Josep Borrell, High Representative

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of the Union for Foreign Affairs, 
emphasised the importance

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of the fund for 
the reconstruction of Europe

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and the final approval of 
the fund as the key measure.

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The key message is 
that we are all aware

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that we are at the turning point 
where we have to decide

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how the EU will work together 
in the next six months,

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the next year 
as well as the next decade.

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And it is successive crises, 
first the financial crisis and then

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the health crisis, that have shown 
that the EU is not as prepared

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for crises as it should be, 
which is why we need

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a general, common agreement 
on how to simplify

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individual procedures 
to let us breathe freely.

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The forum also highlighted 
digitalisation, especially as

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the driver of economic recovery.

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I come from the IT sector 
and am very happy that

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our Government decided 
to make digitalisation and

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cybersecurity one of its tasks, 
also in framework of the

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presidency of the Council of the EU .

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Without digitalisation, 
we will not get very far,

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as far as COVID and 
other issues are concerned.

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The coronavirus crisis 
has once again highlighted

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the importance of digitalisation, 
and this process will also be crucial

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in the recovery of the economy 
after the crisis. The development

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of digital tools also increases 
the need for cooperation,

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which must be based on trust.

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We were able to continue working 
because Telekom’s operators

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did their job well, because 
the infrastructure functioned properly.

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We were able to get food 
by ordering it digitally,

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so digitalisation should not be 
just a side topic in relation to

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the basic strategy. They are now 
one and the same thing, so it is

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fantastic that digitalisation is 
the topic at such an important event.

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The panellists agreed that 
the coronavirus crisis

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greatly accelerated digitalisation. 
Some have managed to make

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the same progress in a matter of months 
that would otherwise have taken years.

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A number of measures 
have been taken over the years,

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and one of the results is 
that it is now easier

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to set up a business 
than ever before.

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According to Marko Grobelnik, 
herald of digital technologies

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from the Jožef Stefan Institute, 
crises propel progress.

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Never waste a good crisis, he stressed, 
and also pointed out

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numerous challenges brought 
by the development of artificial intelligence.