News

Foreign Minister Cerar is in New York attending the UN General Assembly session and various side events. During last night’s meeting organised by the EU, he held conversations with European Council President-designate Charles Michel, Vice-President of the Commission Frans Timmermans and Ireland’s Taoiseach Leo Varadkar. Discussing the continuation of political dialogue with the new Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio, they agreed to hold a bilateral meeting as soon as possible.

Prime Minister Marjan Šarec and Foreign Minister Dr Miro Cerar are participating in the 74th session of the UN General Assembly at the UN headquarters in New York. Minister of Health Aleš Šabeder, who was taking part in a high-level meeting on universal health coverage, joined them for the opening of the General Debate.

Andrej Benedejčič, Ambassador-at-Large for arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation, attended in Vienna a session of the informal Structured Dialogue working group on the current and future challenges and risks to security in the OSCE area. This meeting, held in capital format, focused on measures to increase transparency and on hybrid threats, above all on strengthening resilience and raising awareness about the dangers hybrid threats pose in the contemporary security environment.

State Secretary Simona Leskovar and Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Andrew Winternitz advocated further strengthening of friendly and allied relations between Slovenia and the US, underlining the need for a strong Transatlantic partnership, and they went on to exchange views on current international developments.

The two counterparts confirmed positive bilateral relations between Slovenia and India, and they identified a number of opportunities for enhanced cooperation in various fields, from business and tourism to culture, science and sports.

Today the 52nd MOS Trade Fair in Celje hosted the 9th Economic Diplomacy Day. The event was attended by ambassadors and economic advisers from countries accredited to Slovenia, and by representatives of Slovenian companies. The participants were addressed by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr Miro Cerar, MOS Board Member Nina Ermenc Pangerl and Minister of Economic Development and Technology Zdravko Počivalšek. This year the MOS partner country is Montenegro.

Foreign Minister Dr Miro Cerar met Ombudsman Peter Svetina today for a working meeting. Given the human rights focus of Slovenia’s foreign policy, the two institutions have developed excellent cooperation. The Minister assured the Ombudsman that numerous international activities in this area will also continue after Slovenia’s membership and last year’s presidency of the UN Human Rights Council. He went on to mention that Slovenia is currently preparing for the third UPR cycle, planned for 12 November in Geneva.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr Miro Cerar met Russian Minister for Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media Konstantin Noskov today as part of Slovenian Prime Minister Marjan Šarec’s official visit to Russia. As co-chairs of the Intergovernmental Slovenian-Russian Commission for Trade, Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation, which held its last session at Bled on 14 June, Ministers Cerar and Noskov noted that progress has been achieved in numerous joint projects. They reaffirmed that economic cooperation between their two countries was rewarded today with the signing of two business agreements between a Slovenian company and two Russian companies, paving the way for cooperation on third markets. 　

Ambassador Iztok Mirošič took part in the debate titled “Crisis or the end of the international system as we know it”, which addressed the transition from multilateralism to a multipolar or even a new bipolar international system, including the return of geopolitics to the Western Balkans. Therefore, underlined Ambassador Mirošič, the EU enlargement process is exceptionally important

State Secretary Simona Leskovar and Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi held political consultations in Ljubljana today as part of the regular political dialogue between the two countries.

As part of the 14th Bled Strategic Forum, State Secretary Božič met with Scottish Minister for Europe, Migration and International Development Ben Machperson. They discussed the challenges posed by Brexit and possibilities of strengthening bilateral ties, particularly in the economy, tourism and sustainable development.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is hosting the second seminar for young diplomats from the Eastern Partnership, which is being attended by representatives of the Armenian, Azerbaijani, Belarus, Georgian, Moldovan and Ukrainian foreign ministries.

Today, as part of the 14th Bled Strategic Forum, Minister Dr Miro Cerar met with his Finnish counterpart Pekka Haavisto, who currently presides over the EU Foreign Affairs Council. The main topics of their discussion were bilateral relations, the Western Balkans, migration and the Arctic.

On the second day of the Bled Strategic Forum, Minister Dr Miro Cerar met with Michelle Bachelet Jeria, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and Nasser Kamel, Secretary General of the Union for the Mediterranean.

The afternoon discussions at the Bled Strategic Forum were dedicated to multilateralism. The panellists, President of the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés, Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Borell Fontelles, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu and Slovenian Foreign Minister Dr Miro Cerar, exchanged views on the importance of effective multilateralism and finding common solutions to global problems, and on the role of small countries in these efforts.

On the sidelines of the Bled Strategic Forum, Minister Dr Miro Cerar met with Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, the European Union and Cooperation Josep Borrell Fontelles.

The afternoon discussions at the Bled Strategic Forum were dedicated to multilateralism. The panellists, President of the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés, Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Borell Fontelles, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu and Slovenian Foreign Minister Dr Miro Cerar, exchanged views on the importance of effective multilateralism and finding common solutions to global problems, and on the role of small countries in these efforts.

The annual Bled Strategic Forum kicked off today with opening addresses by Prime Minister Marjan Šarec and Foreign Minister Miro Cerar as the host of the Forum. This leading international conference in the region is being held by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in cooperation with the Centre for European Perspective for the fourteenth consecutive year. Under the title (Re)sources of (In)stability, this year’s Forum has gathered many state dignitaries and representatives of international organisations, civil society and business, including President of Estonia Kersti Kaljulaid, Spanish Foreign Minister and EU High Representative-designate Josep Borrell, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, Foreign Minister of Finland Pekka Haavisto, currently presiding over the Council of the EU, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, President of the 73rd Session of the UN General Assembly María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés, and the foreign ministers of most Western Balkan countries.

On the margins of the 14th Bled Strategic Forum, Foreign Minister Dr Miro Cerar met with the President of the United Nations General Assembly for the 73rd session, Ms María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés, with their talks focusing on the role and strengthening of multilateralism.

Minister Dr Miro Cerar is attending an informal two-day meeting of EU foreign ministers (Gymnich). On the first day, the foreign ministers, together with ministers of defence, discussed hybrid threats, underlining the importance of information exchanges between EU member states. The discussion on the Middle East focused on Iran and the situation in the Strait of Hormuz, with the ministers stressing that the EU must continue its efforts to calm the situation in the region and ensure free navigation through the strait. They also strongly advocated preserving the Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA).