At the panel session entitled Shared Prosperity and Migration, Minister Logar pointed out that this approach helps create new jobs, thus preventing brain drain and illegal migration. He went on to outline Slovenia’s experience with the 2015 and 2016 waves, when Slovenia shouldered part of the burden, while also receiving solidarity from others. He underlined Slovenia’s Central European and Mediterranean geopolitical identity as its comparative advantage and went on to present Slovenia’s activities in the Western Balkans to tackle migration issues and promote development. Minister Logar stressed the need to find an appropriate balance between solidarity and responsibility on migration and to understand the importance of protecting Europe’s external Schengen borders.

In his address, he recalled the reflection process on the EU-Southern Neighbourhood partnership, which was launched by foreign ministers last week at a video conference in Barcelona. The minister also gave an overview of the preparations for the EU Council Presidency, especially in relation to strengthening the resilience of the neighbourhood and water issues. He also spoke about the experience gained so far in fighting the pandemic.

Minister Logar took part in the closing session together with Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio, Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias, Croatian Foreign Minister Gordan Grlić Radman, and Portuguese Foreign Minister Augusto Santos Silva. This is sixth consecutive year that the conference, which is one of the central hubs dedicated to high-level dialogue on topical issues in the Mediterranean and the regions of the Middle East and North Africa, has been organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Italian Republic and the Italian Institute for International Political Studies (ISPI). The event is aimed at rethinking traditional approaches to the region and complementing them with new ideas and proposals, based on common challenges at both regional and global levels. It brings together leaders and representatives of governments, and representatives of civil society, business, media, and academia from the region.