Prime Minister Robert Golob underlined the importance of international cooperation in combating climate change in his address to the Bled Strategic Forum on 28 August. Slovenia will strive to make climate change a top priority of the UN when it assumes the role of non-permanent UN Security Council member.

Peace in Ukraine will be the other top priority for Slovenia on the UN Security Council, said Golob, underlining that the UN is the only place where peace can be achieved.

He underlined that people will have to change their consumption patterns and even the way they eat, but still this will not be enough to reverse climate change. Catastrophes will keep on happening and the world will have to adapt.

The massive challenge can only be tackled in cooperation, as not even the biggest countries can succeed at this alone.

Moreover, Golob expressed satisfaction that all Western Balkan leaders are attending Slovenia's top foreign policy event, adding that the pace of enlargement processes would speed up in the coming years. Minutes later, European Council President Charles Michel said that the EU and the Western Balkans must be ready for enlargement by 2030.

The enlargement process is getting a new impetus due to the war in Ukraine and a completely new perspective has emerged for enlargement. "I urge all of you to not be left behind, urge all of you to continue pressing on with the reforms."

Reforms will be needed within the EU to facilitate the enlargement. "These reforms either happen within the next 12 months or they may not happen for a very long time."

The challenges ahead will be tough to overcome. "We will use tons of money, especially for the floods, relief and the reconstruction. It will take a lot of time, but we need to find both courage and wisdom and we will in order to show that, yes, we can," he said.