In his speech, State Secretary mag. Marko Rusjan said: "More and more European countries are introducing a model of prescription culture that includes culture in preventive health care, especially mental health. I am glad that Slovenia is also taking concrete steps towards this system in close cooperation with partners from the health sector." He added that culture and art primarily strengthen mental health: "In Slovenia, we have a wide network of amateur activities, in which more than one hundred thousand people are involved through various associations and groups. Active participation in choirs, theatre groups, folklore and art workshops helps older people in particular to overcome social exclusion." He also emphasised the importance of a wide-ranging network of public libraries: "At the Ministry, we support them in expanding library materials and purchasing library buses, which thus reach even the most remote residents. With books, we pass the time, maintain cognitive fitness, and relieve mental distress." He also pointed out that in the last decade, innovative support programmes that connect well-being and culture have also been successfully developed in the sphere of professional creators, cultural institutions and non-governmental organisations."

The Ministry of Culture supports closer integration and placement of culture in other departments. Culture has a positive impact on the development of tourism, social inclusion, contributes to science and innovation, and is an important factor in maintaining health and well-being. "We were all convinced of the latter during the pandemic, when culture, through series, music and films, shortened our time and helped alleviate loneliness," said State Secretary Mag. Marko Rusjan.

That is why, as Tadej Meserko pointed out at the conference, the Ministry of Culture has provided a strategic basis for linking culture and health during this mandate, first by amending the National Programme for Culture, which was then followed by the creation of an operational framework with an action plan. In addition, we have also placed culture in the strategic documents of the health sector in the field of mental health. Meserko also presented the first concrete measure that emerged from the established appropriate bases for the systemic development of the integration of culture and health, i.e. this year's pilot public tender for projects linking culture and health.