Following the mutual decision of the Municipality Council the town Villach decided to become the member of the AACC. Besides the President Bernard Sadovnik also the Secretary-General Filip Warasch and the Financial Advisor Štefan Lesjak were present at the ceremony of the signing the membership contract from the Mayor Helmut Manzenreiter.
AACC will support the town at the coordination of cross border activities.

The Carinthian Country Governor Gerhard Dörfler together with the Mayor of Ljubljana Zoran Janković solemly turned on the lights of the Christmas tree in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. The tree is positioned at the restaurant Figovec in the center of Ljubljana. This tree is coming from the Municipality Moosburg near Klagenfurt and it is meant to be a sign of the good new neighbourhood relations between Carinthia and Slovenia.
Afterwards the Carinthian Country Governor met in Bled the President of the Constitutional Court of Slovenia dr. Ernest Petrič and the Mayor Janez Fajfar. Their discussion was very relaxing and friendly.
The Carinthian Country Governor was accompanied by the President of the AACC Bernard Sadovnik.

On October 18th, 2012 in the House of Music in Klagenfurt The European Congress of National Groups took place, the thema was "Meeting, Dialogue and Culture: instruments of understanding within and among the national groups". This congress was organised by the Office for Slovenian National Minority at the Carinthian Country Government.
Numerous eminent persons were discussing, among others the ORF reporter in Belgrade mag. Christian Wehrschütz spoke about reconciliation in Southeast Europe, the Belgrade Archbishop Stanislav Hočevar spoke about respect of the identity, which promotes the complementation of life.
The afternoon part of the programme began with the lecture of the publisher Lojze Wieser, who presented his thoughts about lost words, newly found , the recipes , which could ensure live words in the whole public space.
This time the President of the AACC Bernard Sadovnik addresed the public, too, he pointed out the meaning of including the national groups in the cross border cooperation. He suggested to establish a geographically wide European region, inclusively Slovenia. Per his words Slovenia could – as a member of EU- take over an important and connective role.

Recently the Town Municipality Maribor celebrated its municipality holiday, Maribor is this year also the European Capital of Culture. The Mayor Franc Kangler invited numerous eminent guests, among others also the Carinthian Country Governor Gerhard Dörfler. With the President of the AACC Bernard Sadovnik also the mixed singing group "Peca" from Globasnitz was invited, the group enrichened the interesting cultural program.
The public accepted the guests with loud applause .All present guests took the opportunity and used the celebration for pleasant dialogue among neighbours and friends.

On October 4th, 2012 the business conference was held with the title »International Integration of local Entrepreneurship« - upon invitation of Government Office for Slovenians Abroad.
The conference, where about 100 businessmen from Slovenia, Germany, Austria and Hungary were present, was opened by the representatives of the Government Office, of other Ministries, of the Parliament and of theTown Municipality Ptuj. It was stated that that there are numerous not enough used possibilities and that is essential in the time of crisis to use all given possibilities for economic entrance to foreign markets.
Besides economic associations from Slovenia also associations from Germany and neighbour countries got their opportunity to present themselves. From Austria besides Slovenian Economic Association and Bank Association (Zveza Bank) also the AACC - Alps-Adriatic Centre was invited to the conference.
The Secretary-General mag.Filip Warasch presented the structure and activities of his organisation, pointed out the already finished projects and stressed the successful cooperation with many economic subjects. Especially he mentioned the cooperation of the Centre with the Carinthian Country Government and with municipalities and regions in the Alps-Adriatic region.
The discussion about the possible ways of cooperation and about the possible obstacles on the way to foreign markets followed next. Finally, successful companies from the region and from abroad had the chance of their presentation.

AACC started with autumn work

On August 28th, 2012 the President of the AACC Bernard Sadovnik accompanied the Carinthian Country Governor Gerhard Dörfler to a new working visit to the Premier of the Sarajevo Canton Fikret Musić. The main purpose of the visit was to prepare the Cooperation contract between Carinthia and the Sarajevo Canton. The aim of this contract is the cooperation on the fields of ecology, infrastructure, energy, tourism and administrative matters , which should bring Bosnia and Herzegovina closer to the European Unity. The Cooperation contract will be also presented to the officials in Brussels as an example of good practice cooperation among the economically stronger and economically weaker regions.
The President of Bosnia and Herzegovina Bakir Izetbegović also accepted the Carinthian Governor during his stay in Sarajevo.
Bernard Sadovnik participated also at the press conference of the Carinthian Governor on August 24th – when the Ambassador dr. Kubesch took leave from Ljubljana.

The Carinthian Country Governor Gerhard Dörfler met officially for the first time the Mayor of Ljubljana Zoran Janković on Wednesday, July 25th, 2012. This was a warm receipt of the Mayor who is very popular among his citizens. At the meeting were also present Darko Brlek, the Director of Ljubljana Festival, Miran Gajšek, the Chief of the Board for Spatial Management and Planning, the Member of the Slovenian Parliament Mitja Meršol, the Austrian Ambassador Erwin Kubesch and the President of the AACC Bernard Sadovnik. The Alps-Adriatic Centre prepared this meeting.

The Governor and the Mayor shared the same opinion that it would be necessary to determine definite projects, especially on cultural field. They discussed the possibility of a regular bus service between Klagenfurt and Ljubljana, which already now offers numerous Carinthians a rich and interesting cultural programme. At the end of the meeting the Carinthian Country Governor invited the Mayor Janković to visit Carinthia.

Before this meeting Dörfler visited Zagreb where he was accepted by the Croatian Minister for Traffic and Infrastructure Siniša Hajdaš Dončić, who expressed his positive opinion about the intention of Austria and Slovenia to build also the second tube of the tunnel Karavanke, since the tunnel is a significant part of X road corridor.

The Association of Municipalities and Towns of Slovenia visited the Carinthian Association of Municipalities

After visiting the Association of Municipalities of Slovenia the delegation of the Carinthian Association of Municipalities with its President Ferdinand Vouk met the second organisation of municipalities in Slovenia- the Association of Municipalities and Towns of Slovenia, led by the Mayor of Miklavž na Dravskem polju and its President, Leopold Kremžar. The meeting was held in Velden am Woerthersee on July 6th, 2012.
The Association of Municipalities and Towns in Slovenia has 173 members and is one of the two organisations which are in Slovenia active at connecting municipalities. On the other side, the Carinthian Association is uniting 132 municipalities.
The visit of Slovenian municipality representatives is the first of such kind in Carinthia, mutual contacts are to become closer and usefull for both sides, especially on the field of tourism. The Austrian delegation should visit the Slovenian Association still in this year. The visit was organised by the AACC.
The members of the Carinthian delegation were: President Ferdinand Vouk, the Mayor of Velden and the member of the AACC ' s board, Vice-president Valentin Happe, the Mayor of Schiefling am See, Vice-president Arnold Marbek, the Mayor of Poggersdorf, Vice-president and the Mayor of Municipality Afritz am See Maximilian Lindner, Vice-president and the Mayor of Klein St. Paul Hilman Loitsch, mag. Stefan Primosch, the Manager of the Association, mag. Vladimir Smrtnik, the Member of the Presidency of the Association, mag. Raimund Grilc, the President of the Association of Austrian-Slovenian friendship, Bernard Sadovnik, the President of the AACC and mag. Štefan Lesjak, Financial Advisor of the AACC and Municipal Council Member in Velden am Woerther See.

An open conference was held under this slogan on January 11th, 2012 in Goriška Brda (Slovenia).
The conference was organised by The Institute for Tourism, Culture and Sport of the Community Brda, led by mag.Ariana B.Suhadolnik.
Interesting and very well prepared lectures were going on in more directions. The director of the Directorate for Tourism of the Slovenian economy Ministry mag.Marjan Hribar was talking about the role of the government and its institutions at the development of tourism. He especially explained the preparation of the strategy for the development of tourism in the period from the year 2012 to 2016 and concluded that Slovenian tourism is moving towards perfect, active , safe and green destination.
In the direction aOpportunities for the development of tourism in the region, the advantages of connecting destinations´ among others the Mayor of Brda Franc Mužič and the Mayor of Nova Gorica Matej Arčon were discussing . The stressed the necessity to overpass the small community and country borders. They stated it is very important to be aware of the final destination, of the region we want to promote and finally it is essential to connect all elements into a mutual and unique appearance- on the domestic and as well on the foreign market.
The most interesting discussion was held by the honorary guest of the evening dr.Christoph Engl, the Marketing Director of Sudtirol. Namely this region has a brand name which includes the landscape, its products and the offers of various services.
The President of the AACC Bernard Sadovnik and the Secretary-General Filip Warasch were also present at the conference.

The Mayors of the three Slovenian-Styrian municipalities visited the Carinthian Country Governor Gerhard Dorfler in Klagenfurt -upon the initiative of the Alps-Adriatic Centre for Cross-border Co-operation (AACC) .
The Governor Dorfler presented the Mayors of Maribor, Celje and Murska Sobota especially the initiatives on the fields of alternative sources of the energy and e-mobility. Governor Dorfler informed the Mayors also about the solution of bilingual signs in Carinthia, the project of the
World skiing Championship of the three countries, about the traffic connections between Carinthia and Slovenia, and about other matters, interesting for both sides.
The Mayors Franc Kangler (Maribor), Bojan Šrot (Celje) and Anton Štihec (Murska Sobota) presented their standpoints of the political situation in Slovenia before the coming elections, mainly they criticised the centralism, which is evolving. The Mayor Kangler described the activities of his town in the context of »The European Capital of Culture 2012«.
The Christmas tree for Maribor will this year come from Himmelberg, the home municipality of
Gerhard Dorfler.

Photo: from the left:Bojan Šrot (Celje), Gerhard Dorfler (Country Governor), Anton Štihec (Murska Sobota, Franc Kangler (Maribor) and Bernard Sadovnik ( the President of the AACC) in front of the inn Felsenkeller , Klagenfurt.

The cheese festival in Kotschach-Mauthen (Carinthia, September 24th and 25th, 2011 ) was a good opportunity for the municipality Brda to propagate cross border cooperation. The numerous delegation (music group, dancers, women from Brda in their traditional dresses ), led by the Mayor Franc Muzic, who used the opportunity for the meeting with the host- Mayor Walter Hartlieb.
Among the exhibitors- present were more than one hundred- was also the Wine Cellar from Brda, since it is well known that wine and cheese supplement each other extremely well.
The contacts between the municipalities were coordinated by the Alps Adriatic Centre (AACC) from Klagenfurt.

Photo left:Mayor Franc Muzic, beside the cheese queen 2010, the fourth from the left Filip Warasch (AACC), in the middle Mayor Walter Hartlieb, beside the cheese queen of this year

At the meeting, held on Tuesday, September 27th, 2011, the Slovenian Minister of transport Patrik Vlačič and the Carinthian country Governor Gerhard Dorfler agreed to propose- due to the safety reasons- the complete construction of the second tube of the Karavanke road tunnel. For them the building of the safety tube is not acceptable and would be a wrong investment.
At this meeting in Kranjska Gora they discussed also other important issues- the construction of the third road axis Celje, Dravograd and Bleiburg and the express bus connection between Klagenfurt and Ljubljana.
Both delegations see a big potential in the mutual marketing of the cross border trip connections.
Here a joint European project is possible, considering the road connections over Predil, Vršič and Paulitsch mountain pass. .
The President of the AACC Bernard Sadovnik was accompanying the Carinthian delegation.

On Friday, July 15th, 2011 the high ranking delegation from the Sarajevo Canton (Federation Bosnia and Herzegovina ) visited Carinthia. The delegation, led by its president Fikret Musić , met the representatives of the Alps- Adriatic Centre for Cross-border Co-operation in Klagenfurt (AACC).
At the meeting they expressed their intention for close cross border cooperation.
The partners agreed upon mutual interest for cooperation in the frame of European cross border programmes and on the basis of valid regulations.
The AACC will endeavour to intermediate all received contacts and liasons in Austria and those from European authorities.
The Sarajevo Canton will become a regular member of the Centre in order to achieve all these goals.
Besides others, the President of the Sarajevo Canton Fikret Musić, the Minister for questions of war veterans Nedžad Asnadžić, the Minister for culture and sport Ivica Šarić and the Minister for trafic Haris Lulić, the President of the AACC Bernard Sadovnik, the Secretary-General Filip Warasch,
Vladimir Polzer and Joza Habernik were present at the meeting.

Photo: Copyright Štukelj