Slovenian Foreign Minister Anze Logar

Ljubljana: Slovenian Foreign Minister Anze Logar on Thursday said that his country is determined to enhance exchanges with India.

Speaking at Bled Strategic Forum panel, Partnership for a Rules-Based Order in the Indo-Pacific, in Ljubljana, Logar said that the Slovenian side is determined to enhance exchanges with India.

When asked about how Slovenia, on one hand, works with China and on other hand it has strong ties with Australia, Japan and others, the minister said, " I don't work, I talk. We have two different powers in the region with two different systems. My guess is two ways of thinking of how to do business. We all know how China is approaching and how they are dealing with their partners, competitors and other superpowers."

He referred to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar's book 'The India Way: Strategies for an Uncertain World' saying that it's very interesting that 'India is better off being liked than just being respected'. He stressed that this sentence shows the essence of the difference between China and India. "I am an optimist so I hope that this sense will definitely show the difference," he added.

When asked about the Port Koper, the Slovenian minister said, "We opened this discussion with Indian officials at our ministerial meeting and we talked about this before."

"Unfortunately the COVID-19 pandemic postponed the issue earlier but now from Slovenian side there is determination in order to continue in that sense as here we can enhance our bilateral exchange," he added.

Slovenia currently holds the Presidency of the Council of the European Union and invited Jaishankar to attend an informal meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of EU Member States.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Anze Logar, Kenyan Chief Administrative Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ababu Namwamba and Portuguese Foreign Minister Augusto Santos Silva attended the Bled Strategic Forum's meet on Thursday.