A year of surpluses and jubilees for the GR

In 2019, the GR – Ljubljana Exhibition and Convention Centre (GR) celebrated the 65^th anniversary since it was established in 1954. Just five years after the start of its operations, GR already hosted one of the most noble concerts in Slovenia’s entire history. Louis Armstrong, the King of jazz, was playing in GR’s Kupola Hall on the 1^st of April 1959. Today, the GR stands as the leading convention venue in Slovenia that yearly hosts half a million visitors attending the events in a country of two-million residents.

In January 2019, the jubilee 30^th Alpe-Adria Trade show, organised and hosted by the GR Ljubljana Exhibition and Convention Centre, was visited by a record number of 20,000 people. The central and only Slovenian tourist fair promoting green and active tourism is returning for its 31^st edition from 29 January to 1 February 2020.

In the beginning of March 2019, the GR organised and hosted its 58^th International Home Fair (Sejem Dom), the largest specialized international fair in the field of construction in Slovenia and neighbouring countries. The six-day event provided space for 528 companies from 26 countries and welcomed more than 54,000 visitors.

In early May, the GR hosted the biggest conference of the year in Slovenia, the 37^th Annual Meeting of the European Society for Paediatric Infectious Diseases (ESPID). Over 2,300 participants from more than 90 countries attended the event that made Ljubljana for the whole week the world’s centre of paediatric infectious diseases where lecturers and leading experts from all over the world discussed the novelties in vaccines.

Organisers of ESPID decided to choose the GR – Ljubljana Exhibition and Convention Centre due to GR superbly meeting the needs of the ESPID Meeting, from being a suitable size to offering flexibility and growth options.

Between the 5^th and 6^th of June 2019, the GR hosted the Three Seas Initiative 2019, forum of 12 EU Member States. Three Seas Initiative 2019 summit was organised by Slovenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and attended by 9 presidents, including German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier, and many other key political figures, like President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker, and the United States Secretary of Energy, Rick Perry. Political stakeholders were joined also by some of the key financial players. According to experts, the Three Seas Initiative Summit was one of the most important political events on a presidential level in Slovenia since its independency in 1991.

At the summit, the development and phase of current collaborative projects and possibilities for strengthening collaboration in the priority areas were reviewed. The summit was set in two parts, the business forum and presidential part. At the business forum, organised and carried out by Slovenian government, discussions between several ministers took place. The presidential part was hosted by Slovenian president Borut Pahor. GR – Ljubljana Exhibition and Convention Centre provided halls and seminar rooms for this important political meeting and its more than 580 participants from 30 countries.

On the 19^th of September 2019, almost 1000 global experts in emergency medicine gathered in GR’s halls for the Resuscitation 2019, the CPR Congress of the European Resuscitation Council (ERC). The congress included 29 exhibiting companies and 109 faculty members who were very satisfied with the halls and team’s work of the GR.

In late October, GR hosted its celebratory edition of the Nature-Health Fair. The largest regional fair for healthy lifestyle and well-being, annually organized by the GR, this year celebrated the amazing jubilee 50^th edition. One of the most popular Slovenian fairs was visited by more than 20,000 visitors who came to see 220 exhibitors presenting their offer to all in search of a balanced, healthy and environmentally friendly living.