President visits the 6th International Wild Flower Festival

Bohinjska Bistrica, 19.5.2012  |  press release

The Slovenian President, Danilo Türk, and his wife, Barbara Mikliè Türk, attended the opening ceremony of the 6th International Wild Flower Festival. In his address, Mr Türk emphasised that Alpine flowers, including edelweiss, orchid, primula or Bohinj iris, are important elements of the Slovenian national identity.

According to the president, concern for alpine flowers is also part of noble and global efforts to conserve biodiversity, an issue which will rank high on the agenda of the July UN Conference on Sustainable Development or Rio+20 Conference to take place in Rio de Janeiro.

The Slovenian President recalled that the Convention on Biological Diversity adopted in 1992 pursues three important objectives: the conservation of biodiversity, the sustainable use of its components and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilisation of genetic resources. This utilisation is closely linked to the development of several activities, for example the pharmaceutical industry and tourism.

Moreover, President Türk highlighted the fact that this year, the festival (financially supported by the European Union) is attended by five countries. He expressed his hope that this event would make further progress in the future and that an increasing number of countries would participate in it. In this way, people will also acquire a better knowledge of our natural resources and learn how to cherish them, and contribute to the development of tourism and our development on general, he concluded.