The occasion will be marked for the first time as Sovereignty Day, which was declared a national day of celebration by the National Assembly in March this year, though not as a bank holiday.

There will be no national-level ceremony as is customary for major holidays. A small ceremony was held yesterday and President Borut Pahor will host an open day at the Presidential Palace.

The withdrawal of Yugoslav troops is considered one of the final steps in Slovenia's independence movement.

The Yugoslav Army withdrew four months after an independence war that started a day after the Slovenian parliament declared Slovenia's independence on 25 June 1991.