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On the 17th anniversary of Slovenia’s NATO accession, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs hoisted the flag of the Alliance

  • Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Today, 17 years ago, Slovenia became a full member of NATO, the most effective alliance in the history of mankind, joined by 30 countries from all over the world. As part of today’s short celebration, Minister of Foreign Affairs Anže Logar, together with Slovenia’s first Permanent Representative to the North Atlantic Council, Ambassador Matjaž Šinkovec, officially raised the NATO flag in front of the Ministry.

On 23 March 2003, in a referendum on the accession of the Republic of Slovenia to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), Slovenia affirmed its commitment to join the North Atlantic Alliance, and thereby achieved one of its core strategic objectives: to become part of the Euro-Atlantic space, which is united by common values, responsibility and objectives. Slovenia joined the Alliance on 29 March 2004.

By hoisting the NATO flag in front of the Ministry building, we seek to remedy what should have been done when Slovenia joined NATO. We express our belonging to the Euro-Atlantic space, along with our awareness that we are part of the most powerful alliance in the world.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Anže Logar took the opportunity to thank all Slovenian diplomats for their efforts to date to raise the awareness of the importance of the Alliance. This has not always been easy, even for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, both in terms of the advantages it brings and the responsibilities and obligations it imposes. In his short speech, Minister Logar stressed the importance of the Alliance for Slovenia, which is now more compelling than ever.