SLOVENIA ATTENDING COMMUNITY OF DEMOCRACIES;

UNCLAS LJUBLJANA 000260 SIPDIS DEPT FOR EUR/NCE, IO E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KDEM PREL SI SUBJECT: SLOVENIA ATTENDING COMMUNITY OF DEMOCRACIES; INTERESTED IN CONSTRUCTIVE PARTICIPATION REF: SECSTATE 66867 ¶1. Slovenia will be represented at the Community of Democracies summit in Santiago by State Secretary Bozo Cerar (Deputy FM equivalent). Unfortunately, Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel will be traveling in Asia and Europe on OSCE business during that time, and the trip to Chile was not feasible. Cerar's special assistant, Simona Leskovar, who will accompany him to Santiago, emphasized that Cerar is an excellent choice for this meeting as he is well connected politically in Slovenia and will be able to provide necessary follow-through on any commitments made on behalf of the Government of Slovenia. ¶2. Polecon chief discussed reftel points and ideas with Leskovar and Bojana Cipot, newly arrived in the UN Directorate at the MFA, on Friday, April 15. Both were quite interested in the ideas proposed by reftel as well as the list of already launched projects. Slovenia has not yet developed concrete proposals to present in Santiago. Given its 2005 chairmanship of the OSCE, strong interest in a stable and democratic Balkan region and desire to engage concretely with the U.S. on issues of mutual interest, we could expect the GOS to be actively engaged in Santiago, either with its own proposals or in support of others'. ROBERTSON NNNN 2005LJUBLJ00260 - Classification: UNCLASSIFIED v1.6.2