NEWS
Prime Minister Pahor at the 5th Bled Strategic Forum
The Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, Borut Pahor, today attended the Bled Strategic Forum where he, as the keynote speaker, addressed the participants. In his address, Prime Minister Pahor focused on the topic of this year's Forum and spoke about the challenges that we would be facing in the coming decade. »The situation in the world is not normal at present. The financial and economic crisis has essentially sharpened all dilemmas and problems inherited from the previous century. In view of our historical experience we may well ask ourselves whether and how humanity will be able to overcome these problems and avoid war of large dimensions.
According to the Prime Minister, "The crisis, which has aggravated the existing contrasts in many respects, calls for at least relatively uniform and consistent response by the international community, however, we can see the limited success of these attempts. Within the EU we have witnessed a modest success of the joint anti-crisis policy; this applies even more to G20". Mr Pahor emphasised that a unique characteristic of this crisis was the fact that the economy had never been so global; at the same time the awareness of the injustice it revealed was global, too. “The world has been experiencing a global crisis, yet the international community lacks adequate mechanisms to put in place an effective common anti-crisis policy and in the future, we expect to witness endeavours of individual governments for economic recovery but what is needed is to strengthen common mechanisms and when necessary, develop new ones”, he added.
At the close of his address, Mr Pahor stressed that fresh ideas were needed to further tackle the crisis. “It is necessary to establish a dialogue and to maintain at least some reasonable optimism, since problems cannot be settled when in fear,” urged the Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia.
Prior to commencement of the Forum, Prime Minister Pahor also met with the Secretary General of the League of Arab States, Amre Moussa. The two statesmen discussed the economic situation in Europe and in the world and exchanged their views on the situation in the Middle East and the stabilisation of the situation in Afghanistan. They agreed that the presence of the international community in Afghanistan was still necessary.
Afterwards, the Slovenian Prime Minister received the Brazil's deputy foreign minister, Antonio de Aguiar Patriota; they talked about challenges the world economy was facing and the development of the European Union. They agreed that it was necessary to strengthen bilateral relations between the countries, particularly in the area of economy; the visit of Prime Minister Pahor with his accompanying economic delegation to Brazil this year would no doubt contribute to achieving this objective. In their talks, they identified some potential opportunities for promoting the cooperation between the two countries, particularly in higher education where they undertook to conclude an agreement on the cooperation in this area. The agreement is scheduled to be signed during the visit of Mr Pahor with his accompanying economic delegation in Brazil.
Preneet Kaur, Minister of State at the Ministry of External Affairs of India and the Slovenian Prime Minister exchanged views on topical foreign policy global issues, in particular the India-Pakistan border issues. The Minister of State at the Ministry of External Affairs of India devoted considerable attention to the issues of international terrorism and climate change, since those two issues can be only be solved through cooperation at a global level. The Minister of State for External Affairs and the Prime Minister also agreed on a visit of the Slovenian Prime Minister with his accompanying economic delegations, which would take place in the second half of this year.
The Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, Borut Pahor this afternoon met at working lunch the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Belgium, Yves Leterme. At the beginning of their meeting, the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Belgium commended the achievements of the Republic of Slovenia in the political and economic areas. The two statesmen agreed that there was still a great deal of work ahead of the Europe to achieve economic recovery and that it was of importance for us to preserve as much social cohesion as possible, since it represented one of the fundamental values of the European Union. In parallel with the preservation of social cohesion, the European Economic Area urgently needs changes or reforms which will make it more competitive and dynamic. The Prime Ministers discussed the September European Council, where in addition to the already mentioned economic issues, the EU leaders would also discuss the foreign policy, including the situation at the Western Balkans and the improvement of coordination of the EU assistance in removal of consequences of the natural disaster in Pakistan. Belgium, the Member State currently holding the EU Council presidency, will pay a special attention to the enlargement and, in particular, to the Strategy 2020 and the key projects which will strengthen the EU and bring it closer to its citizens. The Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Belgium welcomed the initiative of Prime Minister Borut Pahor to draw up at least one infrastructure project that would cover the whole Western Balkans and be financed by the EU, which would strengthen the European perspective of the region and promote a dialogue and cooperation between the Western Balkan countries.
After the official opening of the Forum, the Slovenian Prime Minister met Felipe Gonzalez, the former Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Spain and the current Chairman of the Reflection Group (RG) on the Future of the EU. During a very constructive dialogue they exchanged their opinions on the proposal of the Reflection Group and its comparison with the Slovenian Exit Strategy proposal. The former Prime Minister Gonzalez assessed the Slovenian Exit Strategy to be good, heading in the right direction and having a correct timeline. Mr Gonzalez and Prime Minister Pahor agreed that the EU needs radical systemic solutions to exit the crisis and to provide enhancement of competitiveness and productivity of the EU market. The Chairman of the Reflection Group accepted the invitation of the Slovenian Prime Minister to attend the conference where the gathered experts would examine the new solutions for the EU market modernisation and discuss the challenges faced by Slovenia. The conference is planned to take place at the end of this year or at the beginning of the next.