Fajon meets Guterres in New York
New York, 8 June - Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon met UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in New York on Wednesday in what was their first meeting after Slovenia was elected a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council the day before. The pair discussed further cooperation between Slovenia and the UN.
New York, US
Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon (left) meets UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres a day after Slovenia won a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council.
Photo: Rok Hlade Weis/Foreign Ministry
They agreed that Slovenia could help bring UN members together in the Security Council since it has never been part of the problem but part of the solution, the minister said on Twitter, adding: "Count on us."
Ahead of Tuesday's vote in the UN General Assembly Fajon hosted a reception for UN ambassadors at the UN headquarters in what was the final act of Slovenia's campaign. The fact that the reception was attended by more than 300 officials, considerably more than it is usually the case with such events, boded well for the vote.
What followed was a comfortable win over Belarus, Slovenia's only rival in the Eastern European group, with Slovenia getting 153 votes in the first round of voting, more than enough to secure the requisite two-thirds majority.
Richard Gowan, UN director at the International Crisis Group, said that the outcome was a blow to Belarus's supporter Russia, which had been saying that many countries seemingly supported Ukraine in public due to pressure from the West, but in reality stood with Russia. The outcome of voting by secret ballot dismissed this claim, he added.