 President of the Republic of Slovenia, Dr Danilo Türk, and his spouse, Barbara Mikliè Türk, arrived on a state visit to the Republic of Iceland where they were welcomed by the President of the Republic of Iceland, Dr Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, and his spouse Dorrit Moussaieff. After the official welcome ceremony, the two presidents exchanged their highest state decorations. The President of Iceland presented President Türk with the Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Falcon, while the Slovenian President conferred on his Icelandic counterpart the Order for Exceptional Services. The ceremony was followed by a face-to-face meeting between the presidents. |
 During his visit to Iceland, President Türk was accompanied by the Minister of the Economy Darja Radiæ, the Minister of Public Administration Irma Paviniè Krebs, the Minister for Environment and Spatial Planning Roko ®arniæ and a delegation of businessmen, including 24 representatives of Slovenian companies.
In his opening address, President Dr Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson said that Iceland took great pleasure playing host to President Türk as he is the first Slovenian President to have visited Iceland. He added that this visit held special importance for him, particularly when he recalled the fight for freedom and the sweeping changes which took place in Slovenia and elsewhere in Europe 20 years ago. The Icelandic President highlighted President Türk’s distinguished career in the field of human rights and protection of minorities which he achieved through his work in international institutions. He pointed out that, owing to their history and strong faith in the rule of law, Icelandic people have the highest esteem for those who devote their academic and professional career to these issues. |
 President Türk thanked his host for the hospitality and, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of Slovenia's independence, expressed his gratitude to Iceland for its role and support to Slovenia in the period when Slovenia strived for international recognition and membership in the United Nations.
He backed Iceland’s current efforts to join the European Union and expressed Slovenia's readiness to share its experience with regard to negotiations for membership and the functioning of the Union. President Türk expressed his belief that the European Union would gain a lot from the accession of Iceland in strategic, economic and social terms, as well as in the context of the diversity that Iceland would bring. |
 President Grimsson agreed that in light of preparations for EU accession negotiations many people in Iceland would be keen to know the experiences President Türk and the Republic of Slovenia have had with EU institutions. He expressed hopes that, during their stay in the country, Iceland would be able to present President Türk and the Slovenian business delegation with its experience in the field of clean energy, particularly in the geothermal energy sector. He observed that in this field but also in other fields of economic cooperation there remain many unexploited opportunities for joint action between the two countries. |
 The Slovenian President also stressed the importance of fighting against climate change and using clean energy such as geothermal energy. In addition, he stated that the business delegation accompanying him on his visit to Iceland had shown interest in developing cooperation in this field. He drew attention to Iceland’s rich experiences in developing the public sector at a time of economic change relating to both the public administration and the public sector in a broader context. The Slovenian President congratulated Iceland for its successful recovery from the financial crisis and said that the way it has faced its financial difficulties could serve as an example for other countries. |
 President Grimsson said that the financial crisis experience was not Iceland’s wish, although he added that this helped them learn a big lesson for the future. In his words, the fact that Iceland's recovery is much faster than expected is a result of extensive legislative and political reforms, reforms of banking and financial institutions, devaluation of the national currency and of the tenacity of different economic sectors including fisheries, energy, tourism, information technologies and industry. He pointed out that the IMF programme for assistance to Iceland was a success story and continued that the importance of this lies in the fact that after a long period of time Iceland was the first among the developed countries that the IMF had dealt with. |
 President Türk said that the lesson taken from the Icelandic experience held importance for the global financial community; in this context, he expressed his criticism of the approach taken by the world's strongest economies G-20 and of the Financial Stability Board to solving global monetary and financial issues. He stressed the importance of the sustainability of the real economic sector which, unlike the financial sector, is essential for the development of any particular country. Another important characteristic of the Icelandic experience is the realisation that circumstances in the financial community can worsen very quickly and unexpectedly, President Türk added. |
 Later on, President Danilo Türk visited Alþingi – the Parliament of the Republic of Iceland, where he met with the Parliament's Speaker Ásta R. Jóhannesdóttir who invited him to assist in the live plenary session of the Icelandic Parliament. This was followed by a brief one-to-one talk where they discussed the issue of legislative changes with regard to Iceland’s public sector reform in the context of rationalisation and enhanced efficiency.
They also touched on Iceland's experiences with regard to overcoming the impact of the financial crisis and Slovenia’s experiences of joining the European Union. Other participants in the discussion were representatives of all political Icelandic parliamentary groups who asked the Slovenian President and the ministers a number of questions regarding protection of the environment, the economy and public sector reform in Slovenia. |