Young BSF Hopes to Give Voice to Young, Organiser Says
Ljubljana, 24 August - The biggest foreign policy event in Slovenia, the Bled Strategic Forum (BSF), will once again open with Young BSF, an event bringing together young professionals from a wide array of fields to discuss topical issues. The goal of Young BSF is to give the young an opportunity to be heard, Simona Leskovar of the Foreign Ministry has told the STA.
Bled
Young BSF participants out on the lake in 2013.
Photo: Tamino Petelinšek/STA
"We must be open to the ideas of the young," Leskovar, Young BSF programme director, has told the STA ahead of the event, which will take place in the lakeside town of Bled between Friday and Monday.
Young BSF will be dedicated to "burning issues that concern the decision-makers of our country and we want them to hear what the young have to say," Leskovar has said.
"The young have visions and ideas and we need to lend them an ear because they know how to think outside the box," she added.
This year, some 35 individuals aged 28 to 38 will discuss ways to foster innovative entrepreneurial environment, environmentally-friendly and sustainable development and oversight and security of the internet, according to Leskovar.
All three broad topics will be permeated with a debate about partnerships and visions, which will also be in the focus of BSF. "Partnerships, which give birth to visions, cannot exist without trust," Leskovar said.
The goal of the event is not to find concrete solutions but "above all to discuss topical issues, share views and to give the young an opportunity to make contacts which they can use in the future".
The organisers, a small but dedicated team headed by Leskovar, want to create an event the participants will remember and where all speakers in discussions are treated as equals.
Looking back on the first four years of Young BSF, in which the event has grown from a small debate to a multi-day event, Leskovar said they were a success.
Throughout the years the organisers did not stick to a uniform concept. Each time, the event was a little different, which Leskovar believes reflected the approaches of individual organisers.
But despite the differences, the goal has always been the same, Leskovar underscored. "To bring together an interesting group of young people with different profiles....to discuss a variety of issues."
Most of the participants will be foreigners, many of whom "will visit Slovenia for the first time". The organisers invited a "colourful mix of young professionals and ambitious leaders" in diplomacy, entrepreneurship, academia, NGOs and civil society.
Among others, the participants are from Afghanistan, Austria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Columbia, Finland, Germany, Italy, Iran, Mexico, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Spain, Switzerland, the UK and the US.