On April 12th ICPE organised a Tour de Table meeting with the representatives of ICPE member states. The meeting offered an opportunity to member states to address their position on the current and future functioning of the Center. The meeting was attended by Dr József Györkös, State Secretary at the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology of Slovenia, His Excellency Dr Villur Sundararajan Seshadri, Ambassador of India, His Excellency Mr Sandër Kovaçi, Ambassador of Albania and Mrs Amra Kosović, Economic Counselor at the Embassy of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The meeting was opened by Dr Štefan Bogdan Šalej, Director General of ICPE, who presented the current situation of the ICPE, giving special emphasis on the development of the legal basis of treatment of international organizations in Slovenia, including ICPE. He was followed by the Honorary President of the ICPE Dr Anton Vratuša, who presented the ICAM conference. Gašper Koprivšek, ICPE Project Manager, informed that ICPE hosted 60 high-ranked Indian officials of the ISTM end of March for an overseas training programme. The programme was carried out successfully and there is a joint interest of long term and continuous cooperation. Aleš Dakić, ICPE Project Manager, presented the current International MBA programme and introduced the new Green Industry MBA, conducted jointly with the Jožef Stefan International Postgraduate School.

Dr József Györkös, State Secretary at the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology, agreed that the legal basis of the ICPE needs to be clarified as soon as possible. He also expressed his support for the Green Industry MBA programme and the renovation of the ICPE facilities.

H.E. Dr Villur Sundararajan Seshadri, Ambassador of India, expressed his content with the Tour de Table meeting and emphasized India’s strong commitment to ICPE. He agreed on the importance of the legal structure and clear footing of ICPE and congratulated for the vast improvements of ICPE facilities, especially Prešeren’s Hall. Special consideration needs to be given to the refocus of ICPE, which must nevertheless keep constantly in mind the significance of the role of the public sector.

H. E. Mr Sandër Kovaçi, Ambassador of Albania, expressed that they were interested in further cooperation with the ICPE. They could also play a role regarding ICAM conference. Some programmes for the Adriatic Coast have already been implemented.

The meeting was concluded with a call for further support from the Government of Slovenia and stronger cooperation with the remaining member states.

In the week from March 28 to April 4 2010, International Center for Promotion of Enterprises (ICPE) hosted 60 high-level officials of the Indian government on an international training programme. The purpose of the course was to expose deputy secretaries from various ministries in the Indian government, who are scheduled for promotion this year, to current EU and national practices in different fields of public policies, especially public administration and governance. The trip was coordinated by the Institute for Secretariat Training and Management (ISTM) on the part of the Indian Government.

The opening of the seminar took place on March 29 2010 at the ICPE Headquarters in Ljubljana. Participants were adressed by Dr Štefan Bogdan Šalej, Director General of the ICPE, His Excellency Mr Aljaž Gosnar, Secretary General at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, His Excellency Dr Villur Sundararajan Seshadri, Ambassador of India,  Mr  K.S. Kumar, senior representative of the ISTM, Dr Zoran Stamatovski, MBA, Head of the Division for Foreign Direct Investments, Internationalisation and Representative Offices of Slovenian Economy Abroad at JAPTI.

During the course of the seminar the participants visited various institutions in Slovenia, such as the Ministry, Municipalities of Ljubljana, Bled and Maribor, companies ELES and Pošta Slovenija and the Slovenian Parliament. The programme also included a three-day visit to Vienna, where the participants visited Municipality of Vienna, the Austrian Parliament and the United Nations Headquarters.

After a long week of familiarizing with the practices of European governments and public enterprises, the ICPE and the participants of the programme took a trip to the one the old Europe's foremost capitals of culture and commerce. The trip was then followed by the valediction ceremony, during which the participants were awarded the Certificates of Attendance and were also presented with the tokens of rememberance of the time they had spent with the ICPE and its staff.

The ICPE sees this programme as another important sign of successful collaboration with the Government of India and ISTM and sincerely looks forward to continue hosting groups of Indian officials. These programmes namely represent not only value added for the employees of the Indian government, but represent also a way of maintaining and further advancing the link between the Governments of India and Slovenia.