JULY 21, 2021
On 22 July 2021, Minister Zdravko Počivalšek will host ministers of industry from European Union member states at Brdo pri Kranju, at an informal meeting of EU competitiveness ministers.
At the meeting the European Commission will be represented by Kerstin Jorna, Director-General for the Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises. The meeting will begin at 09.30.
The main topic of the “Building a green, creative and smart future” meeting stems from two priorities of the Slovenian Presidency in the field of the Competitiveness Council: the transition to a circular economy and creative industries as a generator of added value in the economy.
Zdravko Počivalšek, Minister of Economic Development and Technology
The all-day discussion involving ministers and heads of delegations will focus on an exchange of views regarding the importance of the transition of European industry to a circular economy and the contribution of creativity and digitalisation to faster restructuring of the economy into a circular economic model. The ministers will focus on the textile industry and energy-intensive industries, outlining their views on the measures they consider most important for building a circular, creative and smart future for these two industrial sectors. They will also exchange views on measures to strengthen the resilience of these supply chains.
The discussion of ministers and heads of delegations at the meeting will contribute to formulating a European strategy for sustainable textiles and to the improvement of measures to increase the competitiveness of energy-intensive industries, particularly in terms of their impact on the environment.
The meeting will also feature speakers who will present Slovenian examples of good practice from the textile industry and an energy intensive company. The speakers will be Matea Benedetti from Benedetti Life, Giulio Bonazzi from Aquafil, Daniela Zavec from Titera and Peter Čas from Steklarna Hrastnik.
The main highlights of the meeting will be presented by Minister Zdravko Počivalšek and a representative of the European Commission at the press conference, scheduled at 16:15.