News

State Secretary Gašper Dovžan attended the General Affairs Council meeting in Brussels, with state secretaries and ministers for European affairs focusing on the preparations for the European Council on 24–25 March 2022.

Foreign Minister Anže Logar attended a regular Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Brussels chaired by High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell. The main topics on the agenda were the Russian military aggression against Ukraine and the situation in Mali and the Sahel. EU foreign affairs and defence ministers sitting in a joint session approved the Strategic Compass.

State Secretary Gašper Dovžan attended a ministerial meeting in the framework of the European Humanitarian Forum in Brussels on strengthening compliance with international humanitarian law.

In 2022, the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination focuses on the theme “Voices for action against racism”, highlighting the importance of safe public participation, of freedom of expression and peaceful assembly and of protecting civic space to stand up against racial discrimination. The elimination of all forms of discrimination is one of Slovenia’s foreign policy priorities in the sphere of human rights.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Anže Logar met with Minister of Foreign Affairs and National Community Abroad Ramtane Lamamra, Minister of Energy and Mines Mohamed Arkab, CEO of the state-owned Sonatech company Toufik Hakkar, and President Abdelmadjid Tebboune in Algiers. The purpose of the working visit was to strengthen political and economic cooperation between the two countries, particularly in provision of energy products.

State Secretary Stanislav Raščan pledged a new contribution from Slovenia to the World Food Programme (WFP) worth EUR 80,000 at the international High-Level Pledging Conference for the Humanitarian Crisis in Yemen, co-hosted by the UN, Switzerland and Sweden.

The Governments of Slovenia and the United States held the second session of the Slovenia-U.S. Strategic Dialogue in Ljubljana on March 14, 2022. The dialogue was led by Political Director Jernej Müller, Slovenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Deputy Assistant Secretary Robin Dunnigan, Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, U.S. Department of State.

On the 30th anniversary of Peru’s recognition of the Republic of Slovenia, which took place on 17 March 1992, State Secretary Stanislav Raščan held an audio-video discussion with Ambassador Luis Enrique Chávez Basagoitia, Deputy Foreign Minister of the Republic of Peru.

State Secretary Stanislav Raščan attended the Antalya Diplomacy Forum in Turkey, which this year was dedicated to the possibilities of transforming and adapting diplomacy to new global and security challenges.

Director-General for European Union Affairs Barbara Sušnik hosted Thomas Oberreiter, Director-General for Europe and Economic Affairs at the Austrian Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs.

After hearing the statement by State Secretary Árpád János Potápi during the Težišče television programme on 10 March 2022 that the Mura was the border river between Slovenia and Hungary, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia immediately called the Ambassador of Hungary to Slovenia, Andor F. Dávid, requesting appropriate clarifications.

On 9 March 2022, the successor states of the former Social Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) signed a contract in New York for the joint sale of the real estate of the former SFRY Mission to the United Nations at 854 Fifth Avenue for $50 million in the most advantageous offer.

Foreign Minister Anže Logar attended the third ministerial meeting of the International Coalition for the Sahel via video conference. Minister Logar outlined that Slovenia was very concerned about the escalation and spread of violence and the deterioration of the humanitarian situation in the Sahel.

State Secretary Dr Stanislav Raščan travelled to Montpellier to take part in an informal EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting in the configuration bringing together development ministers. The meeting focused on the situation in Ukraine, the geopolitical dimension of the EU's international cooperation and development policy, as well as biodiversity and food security.

Foreign Minister Anže Logar attended the extraordinary meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council (FAC) in Brussels, led by the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell. The meeting was concentrated on the Russian military aggression in Ukraine and the assessment of the effects of the sanctions taken against the Russian Federation.

At the invitation of France, which is currently chairing the Council of the EU, State Secretary Gašper Dovžan attended the informal meeting of ministers and state secretaries for European affairs in Arles, France. The ministers and state secretaries focused on the crisis in Ukraine, the state of the rule of law in the EU and the Conference on the Future of Europe.

Igor Jukič, Director-General for Multilateral Affairs and Development Cooperation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, addressed the participants of the third conference on international cooperation in the field of water, organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning. The representatives of ministries and Slovenian experts discussed priorities and possible new forms of cooperation based on Slovenian knowledge and good practices.

Foreign Minister Anže Logar attended the extraordinary meeting of NATO foreign ministers. They discussed the situation in Ukraine.

Foreign Minister Anže Logar took part in the urgent debate of the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council on the human rights situation in Ukraine, which was convened on the initiative of Ukraine due to Russian aggression in Ukraine.

Following yesterday’s military attack by the Russian Federation on the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, in which the Consulate of the Republic of Slovenia was destroyed, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs re-summoned Russian Ambassador Timur Eyvazov. State Secretary Gašper Dovžan handed over the diplomatic note of protest of the Republic of Slovenia to the Ambassador of the Russian Federation requesting an apology and compensation for the damage suffered.