The Bled Strategic Forum (BSF), Slovenia's prime foreign policy event, will be held on 28 and 29 August for the 18th year. Running under the title Solidarity for Global Security, it will explore ways of ensuring global security by working together.

The organisers announced the theme of the international conference on 28 July, but the names of the participants are yet to be revealed.

Organised by the Foreign Ministry and the Centre for European Perspective, the event attracts many high-ranking officials every year, from heads of state and government to leaders of international organisations, diplomats to scholars.

It provides an opportunity for bilateral and multilateral meetings and networking with regional and global leaders from politics, business and science.

This year it will look for answers to current global uncertainty, diminished security in the international community and future global challenges.

It will discuss ways of securing safe access to food and energy, not only in Europe but around the globe, focusing on obstacles such as climate change and conflicts.

At the same time, the forum will try to find answers how to ensure that these factors are addressed without undermining human rights and fundamental freedoms.

The organisers note that each new crisis in the last decade, in particular the Covid-19 pandemic, has brought new pressure on the existing international order. "Populism, nationalism and autocratic regimes continue to grow - and will continue to do so unless new and fresh ideas for the future emerge."

They say Russia's aggression against Ukraine, which challenges Europe's geopolitical reality, "has significantly diminished our sense of security and threatened our security, climate, food, water and energy supplies".

Last year, the BSF focused on the ramifications of the Russian aggression against Ukraine and on the crisis of multilateralism.

Under the headline The Rule of Power or Power of Rules, it discussed the future of multilateralism and its role in the EU.

Slovenia also used the opportunity to promote its bid for non-permanent membership of the UN Security Council in 2024 and 2025, winning the seat this year.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the forum by video call, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was present in person as one of the main guests.