New York - Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon has been discussing Slovenia's bid for a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council in 2024-2025 at the 10th Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) in New York. "This is not a project of the previous government, this is Slovenia's project," she said.

The minister is confident that the project enjoys unanimous support under the current government. "The entire Slovenia ... is interested in being given the opportunity to sit on the Security Council and steer a very important agenda in difficult security circumstances. I see no doubt about this," she said.

Fajon talked about the bid with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and other officials during Monday's bilateral meetings.

"I've received a lot of advice from different people on how to approach vote canvassing. Slovenia has experienced diplomats in New York, and I am confident that there is also a strong expert team in Slovenia that will work fast to make sure our country succeeds."

The minister announced she will visit countries in Latin America, Asia and Africa and will then return to New York in September to attend the opening of the new session of the UN General Assembly.

Another candidate from the Eastern European group of the UN system vying for the same seat is Belarus, and to win the seat, Slovenia needs to convince the majority of the 193 members in the General Assembly.

"Small countries, which may sometimes be underestimated, are also particularly important, but they are a large group of like-minded countries with equally important voices," she said, announcing the efforts of special envoys.

"It is precisely the threat of disruption to the global peace order that makes our bid all the more important. This will show that Slovenia is committed to peace and the rule of law and ultimately to a world free of nuclear weapons that we are talking about today," she said.

Attending the conference, Fajon welcomed the first grain ship leaving Odessa under a UN-brokered deal to mitigate the global food crisis.

"It is a big test of whether the deal will work. I hope with all my heart that it will, because it is about preventing famine and perhaps opening the way for new opportunities for dialogue," she said.

"People are suffering, famine is intensifying, there are fears of energy price hikes, and there has been an undercurrent in the discussions that many people want to seek diplomatic channels with Russia to end the war as soon as possible."

The minister discussed this with Guterres with whom she also talked about the situation in the Western Balkans and EU enlargement to the region.

Similar issues were discussed during her meeting with Blinken. "Of course Slovenia supports the strategic partnership with the US as every cooperation and every dialogue is important," she said, commenting on the strategic dialogue with the US that was initiated by the previous government.

"I informed him about Slovenia's bid for the Security Council, telling him that this is exceptionally important for us. I also informed him of the stepped up efforts ahead of next year's elections and that Slovenia will remain committed to multilateralism."

Today the minister will attend a meeting of the Stockholm Initiative for Nuclear Disarmament, a group countries that consider the NPT to be the cornerstone international treaty against nuclear proliferation and the foundation of an international framework for global disarmament. Slovenia has joined the initiative recently.