The Slovenian President receives US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo

The President of the Republic of Slovenia, Borut Pahor, today received the US Secretary of State, Michael Pompeo, in Bled. President Pahor held a brief separate meeting with him before hosting lunch at Vila Zlatorog for both delegations as part of the visit.

The discussion focused on collaboration between the two countries with emphasis on security, the economy, science and the energy sector and on strengthening the partnership and collaboration in addressing global challenges.


Photo: Daniel Novakovič/STA

President Pahor advocated strengthening the collaboration with the United States to ensure stability and development in the Western Balkans and elsewhere in the world. He informed his guest about the current events concerning the Brdo–Brijuni Process. In 2015, as part of this initiative, President Pahor and Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović hosted Joseph Biden, who was the US Vice-President at the time. President Pahor also pointed out the importance of the Three Seas Initiative, whose summit he hosted a year ago in Slovenia. The US Secretary of Energy, Rick Perry, had also attended the summit at the President’s invitation.

President Pahor stressed the importance of multilateralism and added that only together and in close collaboration will we be able to address the numerous challenges of our increasingly intertwined world.

President Pahor regularly points out that the United States is a close ally and partner. He has met with President Donald Trump several times on various occasions, first in July 2017 in Warsaw and later briefly two times on the margins of the UN General Assembly in New York. At his initiative, we celebrate Slovenian–American Friendship Day every year, which is often attended by distinguished guests from the United States, including Senator John McCain in 2017. We also celebrated it this year, when the President of the Republic and US Ambassador Lynda C. Blanchard sent their special messages to confirm the very good and friendly relations.

For the media, President Pahor assessed the visit as very constructive, welcome and successful. He emphasised the favourable and friendly atmosphere of the meeting, which promises continued collaboration and trust between the two countries.

Based on his many years of experience with Slovenian–American meetings, President Pahor assessed that US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo would leave with the very best impressions about the great potential of continued collaboration between Slovenia and the United States. He said he was pleased that no dividing outstanding issues were expressed during the talks. It is absolutely clear, the President stated, that our views on certain issues differ, but what matters most is that our talks have concluded with mutual trust in our friendship.


Photo: Daniel Novakovič/STA