 On the fourth day of his working visit to New York, the President of the Republic of Slovenia Dr. Danilo Türk attended High-Level Meeting on Biodiversity where he co-chaired a panel discussion entitled “The Way Forward in Achieving the Three Objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Internationally Agreed Biodiversity Goals and Targets”.
In the afternoon, local time, he held a bilateral meeting with Roza Otunbayeva, the President of Kyrgyzstan. In an open discussion, they debated different possible approaches to international fact-finding in connection with this year’s turmoil and political instability in Kyrgyzstan. On request of his Kyrgyzstani counterpart, President Türk explained his view on possible solutions. Both interlocutors agreed upon further consultation on the issue. |
 Later that afternoon, local time, President Türk attended a high-level side event co-organized by the governments of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, the Federative Republic of Brazil, the Republic of Slovenia, the United Republic of Tanzania and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). During the event, the President participated as a speaker in a high-level panel discussion, entitled “Children and the Millennium Development Goals: Reaching the Most Vulnerable”.
Together with his wife Barbara Miklič Türk, he attended evening reception for heads of state hosted by former US President Bill Clinton on the margins of Clinton Global Initiative Meeting. |
 In his address during UNICEF panel discussion on children and Millennium Development Goals, the President said that there were areas also in the developed countries facing poverty. He stressed that in order to implement a large number of Millennium Development Goals, including poverty reduction, ensuring equal opportunities is of key importance. The President also supported UNICEF’s endeavors in that particular area and pointed out that the organization had successfully defined the concepts and tools that had mobilized instruments for the purpose of helping children.
President Türk illustrated the question of equal opportunities with an example of the Roma people in Europe. He recalled recent cases of expulsion of the Roma from certain European countries that have triggered criticism regarding violations of human rights. According to the President, job creation is of key importance for successful integration of the Roma in the mainstream society, something that is not always possible without prior vocational training of Roma. Vocational training cannot be implemented without good primary education, primary education is not successful without proper preschool education and preschool education will not work without properly organized health care system for young children. |
 The President also emphasized that by ensuring health care and organized preschool education of the Roma children in kindergartens, we could form a basis for equal opportunities of these individuals in subsequent life situations. That is why he called for the increase of EU’s funding of these programmes, which have great impact on equal opportunities of younger generations of Roma in many European countries. |