Ljubljana - President Borut Pahor will be on two working visits this week - first in Zagreb on Tuesday at the invitation of his Croatian counterpart Zoran Milanović, and then in Berlin to meet with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Thursday, the president's office said on Monday.

Pahor and Milanović will discuss current issues in the region and Europe. In their capacity as co-leaders of the Brdo-Brijuni Process, they will also consult convening the next meeting of the initiative's leaders, a press release reads.

The latest meeting of all the leaders took place in Slovenia's Brdo pri Kranju last May, on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the initiative. In a joint statement, the leaders of Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Kosovo and Albania called on the EU to see the Western Balkans as a whole, noting that the EU's enlargement to the region was in the bloc's political, security and economic interests.

Pahor and Milanović meet quite often. Most recently, in October 2021, they attended the unveiling of the monuments to the Croatian politician and writer Ljudevit Gaj in Ljubljana and the Slovenian poet France Prešeren in Zagreb.

On Thursday, Pahor will then leave for a working visit to Berlin at the invitation of Steinmeier. This is a continuation of the regular dialogue between Slovenia and Germany at the level of the presidents of the two countries, which also strengthens the mutually supportive relationship between Slovenia and Germany, Pahor's office added.

In a lengthy telephone conversation just over a month ago, Pahor and Steinmeier assessed that an in-depth discussion on various topical issues in European and international politics would be very useful.

They also spoke immediately after the start of the Russian aggression against Ukraine, when they expressed deep concern about this flagrant violation of international order by the Russian political leadership and called for an end to the Russian attack.

Pahor also hosted Steinmeier on a visit to Slovenia last May, together with Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, before Slovenia took over the EU presidency from Portugal under the presidency trio Germany-Portugal-Slovenia.