The 4th festival of non-governmental organisations will get under way in Ljubljana on Tuesday, focusing on the promotion of dialogue in civil society under the slogan "A Step Towards Dialogue".
LUPA festival is organised annually by the Centre for information service, co-operation and development of NGOs (CNVOS). Its aim is to help NGOs to introduce themselves and to move out of anonymity.
The event will open with the presentation of NGOs at "Non-Governmental Bazaar" in Zvezda Park, while a conference themed "The Power of Information - Need to Connect" will be held at Evropa Center on Friday. The event will conclude on 14 June with a workshop themed "What Is Civilian Dialogue" at the counter-culture centre Metelkova.
As part of the festival the initiative for the future of NGOs is to meet at the KUD France Preseren cultural centre on Tuesday. This is an informal group that is trying to establish a permanent dialogue and partnership between NGOs and the government.
Government and NGO representatives have been in talks since June 2004 to reach an agreement formalising cooperation between the government and NGOs. A draft agreement for the 2005-2008 period, unveiled last December, is aimed at creating better conditions for NGOs and improving their cooperation with the government.
In January, NGO representatives met the new Public Administration Minister Gregor Virant, who promised that a new government negotiating team would be appointed soon and that a meeting with NGOs would follow. This has not happened yet, though.
Another event that will be held as part of the festival is a seminar on "Who's Who" in the EU, scheduled for Thursday, 9 June.
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