Washington - US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said he and Foreign Minister Anže Logar will discuss various topics at today's meeting, including Slovenia's candidacy for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council in 2024-2025. Logar added that he was happy the bilateral strategic dialogue was continuing.

Logar said that he was happy he was visiting Washington, noting that Slovenia and the US started a strategic dialogue during his visit last year to the US.

"Slovenia and the US share common interests and values, which is why I'm particularly happy that we are continuing the strategic dialogue that was launched last year to strengthen cooperation at all levels," Logar told the Slovenian press as he started the US visit in Washington on Monday.

The Slovenian Foreign Ministry sees the visit as an opportunity to strengthen the dialogue and upgrade the Slovenian-US partnership and alliance.

The UN's Eastern European Group, to which Slovenia belongs, is entitled to one non-permanent seat in 2024-2025 which Belarus is also vying for. Slovenia, which already served as a non-permanent member in 1998-1999, submitted its bid this month, and the elections at the UN General Assembly will be held in June 2023.

This is the third bilateral meeting at the level of Slovenian and US foreign ministers in the last year and a half after former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited Slovenia in August 2020 and Logar visited the US last December.