Bled Strategic Forum as a Soft Power Instrument of Slovenian Foreign Policy
Slovenia, being a small state in the global arena, is severely limited when it comes to influence in the international community and its foreign policy actions. We are not in a position to be able to force decisions or coerce anyone using our economic or military power. Instead, our strength lies in projecting values and ideals and taking the role of an intermediary or mediator between bigger players.
Even before the Bled Strategic Forum took the form of an all-year platform, the idea behind it was to hold an annual event where Slovenian perspectives and hopes for the world could be discussed with other players in the region and globally. With it, we have endeavoured to foster goodwill and strengthen partnerships across our borders.
This we aim to achieve as a platform of inclusivity and diversity, striving to bring together as many different stakeholders as possible and disseminate their views through events, discussions, roundtables, projects, analyses and publications.
Our engagement in various events around the world helps to amplify our reach substantially. In turn, it gives us the possibility to engage the opinions of others and present our own to audiences who know very little about our foreign policy or Slovenia as a country, especially ones outside of the Western sphere of influence. Our participation abroad not only allows us to identify like-minded individuals from abroad but also differing voices, which in turn, when discussing issues, give us a much better overview of their complexities and understanding of them.
Two of the most notable developments to originate from the annual Bled Strategic Forum international conference are a joint statement on linkages between water and peace, and the so-called Bled Pledge.
The former was an outcome of the BSF 2022 discussion “Water-proofing peace actions and conflict-proofing water actions”, and a joint statement was developed by panellists, Interpeace and the Bled Strategic Forum urging the UN 2023 Water Conference to reinforce the linkages between water and peace, and thereby enable a more habitable, peaceful planet for future generations.
The latter was the announcement by Charles Michel at the 2023 Bled Strategic Forum of the so-called Bled Pledge. The idea that both the Union and the Western Balkans should be ready for enlargement by 2030 is still very much alive. The current geostrategic situation calls for a new, reinvigorated approach to enlargement.
Bled Strategic Forum, being an intragovernmental project of the Republic of Slovenia, addresses a number of issues that the international community is dealing with, including key areas of development, human rights, peace and security, which align with Slovenian foreign policy priorities. As the most visible and recognised foreign policy project, it is also the strongest tool of Slovenian public diplomacy.