The bulk of Slovenian embassies, 27, are situated in Europe, with four located in Asia (China, Japan, India, Israel) and two each in North America (US, Canada) and South America (Argentina, Brazil). The sole Slovenian embassy in Africa is located in Egypt, while the embassy in Australia serves Oceania.

In the countries where Slovenia does not have its embassy or consulate, Slovenian nationals can seek assistance with diplomatic offices of any EU member state.

According to Foreign Ministry data, the Slovenian diplomatic service abroad comprises 258 staff, of which 224 diplomats. Twenty-one diplomatic offices have 22 diplomats dealing exclusively with trade affairs, while other diplomats are additionally in charge of these affairs in the remaining offices.

Several ambassadorial posts are slated for replacements this year. The Foreign Ministry has recently closed an internal call for applications to fill the posts in London, Warsaw, Cairo, the Vatican and Strasbourg, plus Ottawa and Kiev, which have been without ambassadors since 2011 and 2008, respectively.

Another available post for which a call has been issued is that of a Ljubljana-based ambassador-at-large who will be responsible for Portugal and Cape Verde. Also expiring this year is the term of the ambassador in Belgrade.

Cost-cutting forced Slovenia to close down some of its missions abroad in recent years. The country scrapped its embassies in Sweden, Finland, Portugal and Ireland as well as the consulate general in New York in 2012.

Last year Slovenia also discontinued its embassy in Iran and the trade office of the Moscow Embassy in Kazan, in Russia's Tratastan.

The ministry is now planning a reorganisation of the diplomatic network so as to make it best suited to the needs of the Slovenian economy. Foreign Minister Karl Erjavec believes at least two new offices need to be opened, one in the Persian Gulf and another in Central Africa.

Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are being considered as possible locations in the Gulf and Erjavec expects an embassy there to open shortly. Slovenia is also mulling opening an embassy in Tanzania in Africa after it obtained a former Yugoslav diplomatic estate there as part of the succession process.

In his recent address to the parliamentary Foreign Policy Committee, Erjavec has said the ministry is seriously thinking of relaunching an embassy in Iran. He has discussed the matter with PM Alenka Bratušek and said an attempt would be made to find the necessary funding for the project in the budget.

Meanwhile, Bratušek told a meeting of Slovenian diplomats in early January that Slovenia needed diplomatic service in Central Asia and that the time had come for the country to decide where it would open its embassy.

While the final decision appears yet to be taken, the opening of two new diplomatic offices - one in Africa and another in the Gulf - has also been announced in the new coalition contract, as have been plans for the appointment of honorary consuls in the countries where Slovenia does not have its offices.

Slovenia is not the only country to have closed its embassies in the aftermath of the economic turmoil. Cyprus, Portugal and Latvia shut down their embassies in Ljubljana last year, while similar plans have recently been announced by Denmark.