Heads up – Embassy 16 – April 2009

Small wonder

You'd think Iztok Jarc, Slovenia's Ambassador to London, might want to put his feet up in this posting.

After all, his country has achieved every foreign policy goal it set itself after independence - from chairing the OSCE, joining the Euro-Atlantic clubs, entering the eurozone, serving as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council and being the first of the new accession countries to host the EU Presidency. To top it all, the Queen visited the country last year, cementing Slovenia's already strong ties with Britain.

But the Ambassador is not the sort to rest on his laurels. From a young age Jarc dreamed of being a diplomat. "Even in primary school I read foreign policy articles and dreamt of travelling to Africa. I was definitely 'the weird' kid," he chuckles.

Jarc went from being the 'foreign policy geek' at school to playing a crucial role in many of Slovenia's foreign policy achievements. In 1989 he joined the Secretariat for International Collaboration of the Socialist Republic of Slovenia, a precursor to the Slovene Foreign Ministry, where he lobbied for international recognition of Slovenian independence in 1992.

In 1993, he moved to Brussels where he was appointed chief advisor for economic issues in the Slovenian Mission at the European Union in Brussels.

Returning to Ljiubljana, he was appointed chairman of the Sector for European Integration and Economic Relations but in 2001 unexpectedly joined the world of politics when he was offered the position of deputy minister of agriculture handling Slovenia's complex agricultural brief in the accession negotiations.

With Common Agricultural Policy funds falling short of those awarded to farmers in the EU 15, the Ambassador managed to strike a deal with Slovenia's 60,000 small farmers in which the playing fields were levelled by the Slovene government agreeing to make up the difference in funding.

Following EU Accession, Jarc moved on to his next challenge: Ambassador to Isreal at a tense period where he witnessed Israel's withdrawal from Gaza and the Lebanon Crisis. Having come from the Western Balkans, a region that had also suffered conflict, it was a fascinating posting, says Jarc.

"Most of the people and politicians in the region want a peaceful solution and I think most people understand the elements of a two-state solution. The problem is that the way to get to this point is not an easy one and I think it is here that the international community can play an important role."

Armed with his motto that "even a small country can do good in the world" he set up an office in Ramallah and programmes to assist Palestinian children. He also organised for a mixed group of Jewish and Palestinian children to visit Slovenia.

Prior to this posting, he was appointed Minister of Agriculture, charged with the task of diversifying Slovenia's agricultural sector to enable it to adapt to new challenges facing farming in the EU.

Now in London, the Ambassador sees the UK as a strong voice for continued EU enlargement, particularly in the Western Balkans, which is key to building a stable, prosperous neighbourhood.

"We share with the UK a commitment to integrate the former Yugoslav countries into the Euro-Atlantic architecture," says Jarc. "It is vital to live in a region which is secure and where economic development and prosperity is possible."

Of the lingering dispute with neighbouring Croatia over a sliver of territorial waters crucial for Slovenia's access to international waters, the Ambassador calls it "a burden" which he hopes will be solved soon in order not to delay Croatia's accession. "Slovenia is not blocking Croatia due to any nationalistic aggressive reasons," he stresses.

Further afield, Slovenia has set its sites even higher - to join the OECD, the club of rich, industrialised nations, where he hopes his country will be able to contribute more widely to international development.

While Slovenia has been lucky enough to escape the worst of the banking crisis, Jarc concedes that as an open economy the downturn will inevitably hit Slovene exports. In his own capacity as Ambassador, he will be working hard to attract British trade and investment to Slovenia and plans to set up a Slovene-British business club and e-newsletter this year and hopes to facilitate the first visit of a British Prime Minister to Slovenia.

He also wants more British tourists to visit Slovenia to enjoy its mountains, lakes and architectural treasures.