Minister Fajon during her visit in Finland discusses UN Security Council, Ukraine and strengthening bilateral cooperation

SLOVENIA, January 31 - In Helsinki, Minister Fajon and her Finnish counterpart, Elina Valtonen, discussed Slovenia's experience in the UN Security Council and its participation in the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), which Finland is chairing this year. "We work closely together in international organisations and think alike on many issues, especially human rights, gender equality and climate change. Slovenia is a firm believer in multilateralism and supports strong representation of women and gender equality in the UN system and other international, regional and national forums, including in decision-making positions," said Minister Fajon. She also confirmed Slovenia's willingness to share with Finland its experience of working in the UN Security Council, adding that Slovenia warmly welcomes Finland's Chairpersonship of the OSCE in 2025, fully supports its priorities and provides full and unwavering support. The two countries also enjoy excellent relations and cooperation in the field of water diplomacy; both Slovenia and Finland are strongly committed to water diplomacy and are among the few countries in the world to have appointed special envoys for water. Both are active signatories to the Helsinki Water Convention and participants in the World Food Programme's School Meals Coalition, which aims to improve and expand school meals programmes.

The ministers agreed that Slovenia and Finland have a lot of room for manoeuvre at the bilateral level to enhance cooperation, especially in the fields of the economy, science, research and artificial intelligence. Minister Fajon told her Finnish counterpart that Slovenia would like to see increased cooperation in the field of tourism and expressed her wish that the Finnish airline would maintain its direct flight connection to Ljubljana and extend it to all year round. Economic cooperation is already exemplary - trade between Slovenia and Finland amounted to 221 million euros in 2023, with exports worth 106 million euros. Finland is the third largest trading partner among the Nordic countries (Sweden is the first, followed by Denmark and Finland). In 2023, trade in services amounted to 54 million euros (exports 34 million euros, imports 20 million euros), 21% more than in 2022. Exports are dominated by business and construction services and travel, while imports are dominated by telecommunications, computer and information services.

With Finnish President Alexander Stubb, Minister Fajon discussed the strengthening of political dialogue and economic cooperation between the two countries and focused on international issues, including the Middle East, the war in Ukraine and relations with China. They also exchanged views on future EU-US cooperation, the Western Balkans and EU enlargement, agreeing that enlargement is of strategic importance both for the stability and security of the EU and for its global role.

On the first day of her visit, Minister Fajon also met with Timo Harakka, Vice Chair of the Committee for the Future in the Finnish Parliament, and with Jaana Tapanainen-Thiess, Head of the Government Foresight Group at the Finnish Prime Minister's Office, who presented Finland's experience in strategic foresight, future planning and resilience building. "Finland's commitment to an integrated approach to security makes its expertise in strengthening control over security threats extremely valuable. I believe that Slovenia can learn from Finland - from the best," Minister Fajon stressed.

At the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats (CoE), the Slovenian delegation and CoE Director Teija Tiilikainen discussed developments in crisis hotspots in the European neighbourhood, bilateral cooperation and the organisation's activities in the Western Balkans. Slovenia's cooperation with the CoE is based on an inter-ministerial approach and aims to strengthen national resilience and improve mechanisms for dealing with hybrid threats.