Minister Žiga Turk

Minister without Portfolio responsible for coordination and monitoring of the implementation of Slovenia 's Development Strategy and the economic and social reforms

Žiga Turk (Ljubljana, 1962) holds a PhD in technical sciences, an MSc in computer science, and a BSc in civil engineering. Before taking office he had an internationally recognized career as a scholar - a professor for construction informatics at the Faculty of Civil and Geodetic Engineering at the University of Ljubljana. During his academic career he was guest lecturer or professor in Sweden, Croatia and Turkey. He is the co-founder and co-editor of the international scientific magazine 'ITcon' and author of well over a hundred scientific papers. He has been participating in European research programs since 1994, and has coordinated two projects worth several million euros. He reviews national research projects and scientific articles for several international scientific journals and sits on the committees of most international events in his field.

In Slovenia the wider public knows him from the 1980s as the initiator and expert editor of the magazine on microcomputers 'Moj mikro'. He was one of the pioneers in introducing the internet to Slovenia, and developed several Web applications which have earned him international acclaim. He was chairman of the supervisory board of few companies, including the Telecom Slovenia and Mobitel.

Dr Žiga Turk has collaborated in the drafting of National Research and Development Programme for 2006-2010 and the Strategy of target research projects. He was a member of the group for tax reform with the Reform Committee, a member of the Scientific Council at the Slovenia Research Agency and Vice-President of the Strategic Council for Culture, Education and Science. He was appointed minister in March 2007.

State Secretary Katja Lautar

Katja Lautar (Ljubljana, 1976) studied at the Faculty of Economics, University of Ljubljana, where she obtained her BSc, and in 2002 MSc in Entrepreneurship.
After graduation, she lectured entrepreneurship and collaborated on different regional projects. In 2001, she was employed by Recinko Ltd. in Kočevje as Project Manager in the Pokolpje Development Centre. At the business promotion centre, she acted as adviser to companies, cooperated on and drafted projects for co-financing from Structural Funds. She collaborated with the regional development agency Podjetniški center Novo mesto. She has also acquired the title of generalist consultant and a specialist in the voucher programme of consulting run the Association for Project Management. She has attended a training programme on EU projects in Ireland.

In May 2005, she took up her post in the Office of the Prime Minister as Economy Adviser, she was also a secretary to the Reform Committee and a member of the working group for the effective use of EU Development Funds. She was also the Secretary of the Strategic Council for Economic Development. She worked on the Resolution on National Development Projects for the period 2007–2023 and some other documents prepared by the Government Office for Growth.

On 5 February 2007, the Government appointed her State Secretary at the Office for Growth.

Like all ministers and state secretaries, the minister and the state secretary is bound to respect the Code of Ethics of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia.