Pahor meeting Slovenian minority in Trieste
Trieste, 3 December - President Borut Pahor will visit Trieste on Saturday upon an invitation of representatives of the Slovenian ethnic minority, who wish to thank him for his long-standing efforts and support in issues important for the existence and development of the Slovenian community in Italy.
Brdo pri Kranju
President Borut Pahor.
Photo: Daniel Novakovič/STA
File photo
Pahor for instance played an important role in the recent return of the Slovenian National Hall in Trieste to the Slovenian minority 100 years after it had been burnt down by the Fascists in 1920.
He and his Italian counterpart Sergio Mattarella have contributed significantly to reconciliation between the two countries.
In July 2020, the pair, hand in hand, laid wreaths at two memorials in the Italian town of Basovizza, one to the 1930 Slovenian victims of Fascism and the other to the Italian victims of post-WWII killings.
Pahor is to meet at the National Hall the leaders of the two umbrella organisations of Slovenians in Italy, Ksenija Dobrila and Walter Bandelj, as well as other minority representatives.
The president is also expected to visit the headquarters of Trieste-based Slovenian newspaper Primorski Dnevnik. In 2015, when the minority paper celebrated its 70th anniversary, Pahor honoured it with the Silver Order of Merit.
Pahor, who will be succeeded by Nataša Pirc Musar just before Christmas, is visiting the minority ahead of Monday's farewell meeting with Mattarella in Rome.