Minister Cerar and High Commissioner Bachelet Jeria reaffirmed the excellent cooperation between Slovenia and the High Commissioner’s Office, especially during Slovenia’s 2018 Presidency of the UN Human Rights Council. The talks also touched on multilateralism and addressing human rights in international forums, with the interlocutors advocating the strengthening of international mechanisms for improving human rights around the world, especially through efforts for promoting gender equality and for the protection of vulnerable groups. Well aware of the close link between human rights and the environment, both Slovenia and the High Commissioner devote special attention to this interdependence.

The talks between Minister Cerar and Secretary General of the Union for the Mediterranean Nasser Kamel focused on the role of the UfM in addressing current challenges in the region. The UfM is a valuable platform for an open dialogue between 43 states in the south and in the north of the Mediterranean. The two officials touched on the UfM’s projects that contribute to the strengthening of stability in the region through encouraging people-to-people contacts, better governance and environmental and infrastructural solutions. Among the largest projects is the Gaza Desalination Plant to which Slovenia allocated EUR 500,000. They also discussed the preparations for the 4th regional forum at the level of foreign ministers to be held in Barcelona on 10 October 2019.

The interlocutors agreed on the importance of two projects – the Euro-Mediterranean University and the UfM ministerial conference on higher education which will be hosted by Slovenia in 2020; they also signed an agreement on the organisation of the 2nd Creative Forum between 12 and 15 November 2019. This is the second time that the forum will be held in Ljubljana.