The Slovenian Prime Minister underlined the importance of the Southern Mediterranean, in particular Algeria, and Slovenia's readiness to upgrade bilateral cooperation in all areas. The previous Slovenian governments have neglected the strategic importance of the Mediterranean, in particular the long-term supply of natural gas from Algeria. Now, we have reached a point where a strategic partnership can be re-established, and Slovenia is strongly interested in establishing a short- as well as medium- and long-term alliance with Algerian gas suppliers. The Slovenian side is also planning to open an embassy in Algeria, which would contribute to building trust and increasing investments in both directions.

The Prime Minister’s Algerian counterpart stressed the importance Algeria attaches to its relations with Slovenia. Algeria considers Slovenia an important and trustworthy partner. Mr Boughali expressed his conviction that the forthcoming signing of the Energy Cooperation Treaty would give new impetus to comprehensive relations between the two countries. In the future, Algeria wishes to extend cooperation to other areas, such as digitalisation, artificial intelligence, new technologies and renewable energy sources, because Slovenia has a wealth of knowledge and potential and the Algerian side strives to create win-win partnerships.

Prime Minister Golob also elaborated on the current state of the energy sector in Europe and the consequences caused by the situation in Ukraine.