Among the products being sold with proceeds going to charity the most popular are flowers from South Africa, vodka at the Finish and Russian stalls and the potica dough roll with walnut filling at the Slovenian stall, Vesna Nisha Dolinar of SILA said.

The event was opened by Human Rights Obmudsman Vlasta Nussdorfer, who highlighted the importance of humanitarianism in "these times which are the biggest test of tolerance, humanitarianism and solidarity".

SILA head Mojce Lah noted that Iran and Columbia are being presented for the first time at this year's event, which had been backed by 280 Slovenian and foreign donors.

The funds collected will go to ten organisations and individuals. "Our wish is to help people who are in sever distress as well as enable people with special needs a better quality of life," Lah said.

A novelty this year is an auction of objects donated by Slovenian athletes.

The Slovenian International Ladies' Association was founded in 1993 with the aim of encouraging cultural and educational exchange as well as reinforcing the relations between its members. It mostly features foreign businessmen and diplomats' wives.

The first bazaar was organised in 1994. It featured a dozen countries and raised over EUR 11,000 for the Ljubljana Paediatric Clinic.

So far a total of EUR 1.3m were collected and used to help over 150 organisations and individuals in Slovenia.