The days between 30 March and 1 April were dedicated to the visits of the Alpine Convention’s Infopoints in the South-Eastern Alps.
The Infopoints in Tolmin (SI), Mojstrana (SI) as well as Villach (AT) extended their commitment to act as an Infopoint of the Alpine Convention for a further 3-year period.
The Secretary General of the Alpine Convention Alenka Smerkolj was first welcomed at the Soča Valley Development Centre in Tolmin, where she signed the new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Centre’s director Simon Škvor. Together with the mayors of Tolmin and Bovec municipalities they also visited the new entry point of the Tolmin Gorges.
The Dobratsch Nature Park retains its strong political backing as an Infopoint. At the Villach City Hall, Secretary General Smerkolj was invited to sign into the city’s book of honour, followed by the signing of the new Infopoint’s MoU by the provincial councillor of Carinthia Peter Reichmann, 1st deputy mayor of Villach Sarah Katholnig, mayor of Arnoldstein Reinhard Antolitsch, mayor of Bad Bleiberg Christian Hecher as well as the Nature Park director Robert Heuberger.
Finally, the Secretary General visited the Slovenian Alpine Museum in Mojstrana. The signature of the MoU by the museum director Aljaž Pogačnik, extending the cooperation with the Permanent Secretariat, took place in the remarkable scenery of their temporary exhibition on the 130th anniversary of the Aljaž Tower on top of Triglav, Slovenia’s highest mountain.
In addition, Alenka Smerkolj also visited an event organised by the Koroška Infopoint dedicated to the topic Quality of Life. It presented the main outcomes of the 10th Report on the State of the Alps (RSA 10), elaborated under the Slovenian Alpine Convention Presidency in 2023-2024, as well as two ongoing Interreg Alpine Space projects, dealing with the same topic in pilot locations in Slovenia: GOVQoL and OUT4INGOV. Initial input presentations were followed by a round table discussion on quality of life in connection with regional development and active public participation in policymaking.
In addition to Secretary General Smerkolj, the panel was composed of the mayor of Črna na Koroškem Romana Lesjak, leading author of the RSA 10 from University of Ljubljana dr. Naja Marot, former chair of the RSA 10 Working Group from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Spatial Planning Tomaž Miklavčič, and director of the Regional Development Agency for Koroška Uroš Rozman. The event was a great example of the Infopoints’ role, bringing the international policies closer to the people in their local environments.