Slovenia president to visit Kuwait on Monday

The construction of a mosque in Slovenia, anticipated by Muslims for four decades, will be "done soon", Danilo Turk, the president of Slovenia has said.

In an interview with Kuwait news Agency (KUNA), Turk said that his country respected Muslims' religious traditions, and added that the construction of a mosque in Ljubljana would be done soon.

One day before landing in Kuwait City on a tour of the Arabian Gulf that will take him also to Qatar, President Danilo Turk expressed hope that Muslims will continue their contribution in the cultural, social, and economic development of Slovenia.

Slovenia's Muslim community has been clamouring for the construction of a mosque in the country for over 30 years, with Muslims often performing their religious services in rented-out sports centres.

The closest they came to getting a place of worship was in 2003. However, plans to build a mosque on the marshy outskirts of the city were thwarted by unresolved land ownership on the proposed location, Slovenia Times said.

Attempts by a group led by a right-wing city councillor to call a referendum on the building of the mosque were blocked by the then Ljubljana mayor, Danica Simsic.

The mosque became a political issue and its construction became one of the main campaign promises made by Zoran Jankovic who cruised to victory in 2006 becoming the city mayor.

Last year, Slovenian Prime Minister Borut Pahor told Slovenian mufti Nedzad Grabus that he backed the construction of the first mosques in Slovenia and a religious centre for Muslims, adding that building mosques would consolidate the conditions for a modern and open society in Slovenia

However, he said that their appearance must not be allowed to incur the intolerance of those who oppose the idea.

Local Muslims say that there are 15 small makeshift prayer rooms all across Slovenia, with two of them in the capital Ljubljana.

In his interview with KUNA, Turk said that his visit to Kuwait, at the top of a delegation of ministers and senior officials, reflected the keenness of his country to boost cooperation and strengthen ties with the Arab Gulf state.

New forms of economic cooperation, especially in the field of investment and energy, will figure on the agenda of the talks, set to include matters of joint interest and political issues in the Middle East.

President Turk said that frequent visits to the Arab world proved that Slovenia was serious about developing its relations and increasing cooperation with Arab countries.

The Slovenia-based Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER), ways to boost tourism between the two countries and improving the system of granting visas will also be reviewed during the visit, said Turk who became president in December 2007 after winning 68.2 per cent of the votes in the elections run-off.