State Secretaries Samuel Žbogar and Marko Štucin held bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the 18th Bled Strategic Forum. State Secretary Štucin participated in the panel on the EU’s decision-making role.

State Secretary Marko Štucin held bilateral consultations in Stockholm with Swedish Minister for EU Affairs Jessika Roswall. They discussed the priorities of the Swedish EU Council Presidency, current European and international topics and EU enlargement to the Western Balkans.

On Thursday, the National Assembly ratified the NATO accession protocols for Sweden and Finland. Before the vote, MPs were addressed by Prime Minister Robert Golob, who recalled the historic nature of the moment and the right of nations to decide on their own security and defence.

At today’s correspondence session, the Government adopted initiatives to conclude the Protocols to the North Atlantic Treaty on the Accession of Kingdom of Sweden and Republic of Finland and sent them for approval to the Foreign Policy Committee of the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia.

Yesterday, Minister Irena Šinko attended, via video conference, the informal ministerial conference of the 4Forests group. Ministers discussed forestry topics common to the four highly forested countries – Slovenia, Finland, Sweden and Austria.

Folke Straube has been the Honorary Consul of the Republic of Slovenia in Helsingborg, Sweden for more than 26 years. At his request, he was relieved of his duties in March 2022.

At the end of April 2022, the Slovenian Society Simon Gregorčič from Köping, Sweden, celebrated its 50th anniversary. Köping is an industrial city with around 18,000 inhabitants 150 km west of Stockholm, where most Slovenes came in the 1960s.

On Saturday, March 26, 2022, the regular annual General Assembly of the Slovenian Association in Sweden was held in Jönköping, which this year marks the 30th anniversary of its independent work. The members of the General Assembly reviewed the work done in 2021 and adopted an activity plan for 2022.

This year, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia is participating for the first time as one of the partners of World Water Week, which is taking place from 23 to 27 August 2021 in Stockholm. At today’s High Level Panel on water diplomacy “Water Diplomacy: Navigating a Resilient Future”, Acting Director-General for Multilateral Affairs and Development Cooperation Igor Jukič underlined that discussion on water in the international community requires a comprehensive, cross-sectoral, multidisciplinary, and multistakeholder approach.

State Secretary Gašper Dovžan held a video conference with the Minister for EU Affairs of Sweden, Hans Dahlgren. State Secretary Dovžan briefed Minister Dahlgren on the priorities of the Slovenian EU Council Presidency in the second half of this year.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia Anže Logar is hosting Ann Linde, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Sweden and the Chairperson-in-Office of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), on an official visit. The ministers reviewed bilateral relations and cooperation, the key priorities of the upcoming Slovenian EU Council Presidency, and the main challenges of the Swedish OSCE Chairmanship.

Ten years ago, millions of Syrians took to the streets of Dara’a, Aleppo and Damascus, calling for democracy and respect of their fundamental rights and basic freedoms. The brutal response by the regime triggered over the span of a decade one of the most serious criminal enterprises and humanitarian crises since the Second World War resulting in more than 400 000 deaths and in countless violations of human rights.

Today, State Secretary Stanislav Raščan held a video call with Minister for Foreign Trade and Nordic Affairs of the Kingdom of Sweden Anna Hallberg.

Foreign Minister Dr Miro Cerar is paying a working visit to Sweden; yesterday, he met Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde and Chair of the Committee Andreas Norlén. Today, at the general meeting of the Slovenian Association in Sweden, the Foreign Minister addressed Slovenian compatriots living in Sweden and thanked them for preserving the Slovenian identity and mother tongue.

Foreign Minister Dr Miro Cerar is paying an official visit to Sweden at the invitation of the Swedish Foreign Minister, Ann Linde. He met her and the Speaker of the Riksdag, Andreas Norlén, to discuss the importance of the European future for the Western Balkan countries, sustainable development and EU challenges around the world. At the round table held at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs, Minister Cerar touched on the challenges facing the EU and its relations with partners such as Russia, China, and the United States. He later visited the seat of the Smart City project in Stockholm.

State Secretary Dobran Božič met with Minister for EU Affairs in the Cabinet of the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Sweden Hans Dahlgren.

Austria, Belgium, Finland, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden attach the utmost importance to the preservation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPoA), signed by Iran and unanimously endorsed by the UN Security Council, as a key instrument for the non-proliferation regime and a major contribution to stability in the region.

Minister Dr Cerar today met with Andreas Norlén, Speaker of the Parliament of the Kingdom of Sweden, who is paying an official visit to Slovenia between the 25 and the 27 of June at the invitation of Dejan Židan, the President of the Slovenian National Assembly. In their talks, the two high officials reaffirmed the excellent bilateral relations and expressed their mutual determination to further strengthen cooperation in various fields of common interest, both within the EU and other international forums.