3. 4. 2025 | Bled Strategic Forum, PR, Young BSF
We are happy to announce that the applications for the 14th Young Bled Strategic Forum (Young BSF) are now open! Young BSF is a participant-driven platform where bright young minds from around the world come together to share ideas and find inspiration to improve their communities.
We are inviting ambitious young professionals working in a broadly defined field of international politics to apply by 27 April 2025. All the relevant information can be found on the Young BSF website.
About Young BSF 2025
Under the title ‘What values?’ Young BSF 2025 will explore the intersection of values and world politics. Our aim is to better understand the fundamental drivers of international politics at the personal, professional and institutional levels by explicating our individual belief systems and juxtaposing those with the values that guide our actions on the global stage. For more information on the content please refer to the concept note that you can find on the website.
The programme of the Young BSF 2025 will take place from 29 to 31 August 2025 in Pokljuka, Slovenia, with participants arriving on 28 August. Following the conclusion of the Young BSF programme, the Young BSF participants will attend the 20th Bled Strategic Forum in Bled on 1 and 2 September.
Who can apply?
The Young Bled Strategic Forum participants are promising, curious and proactive young professionals aged 18–35. They are leaders and practitioners in the broadly defined field of world politics, with overlapping educational backgrounds, professional interests and career paths. They are young people driven by a commitment to creating a positive impact.
Why should you apply?
- To explore the main theme of Young BSF and source ground-up solutions for select contemporary challenges in collaboration and in discussion with other participants and world-renowned experts.
- Attend a three-day Young Bled Strategic Forum tailor-made programme with insightful discussions and engaging workshops in Pokljuka and then participate at the Bled Strategic Forum international conference – the leading conference in Central and South-Eastern Europe.
- Hang out with and befriend some 40 thought-provoking, up-and-coming, interesting, ambitious, and diverse young leaders from all over the world.
- Because the attendance is free, and all the costs of your participation are covered by us! Young Bled Strategic Forum is possible because of donations and funds from generous partners and sponsors. This way we can enable participation to whomever, regardless of their socio-economic status.
Participant selection process
The applications are now open and will remain open until 27 April. As the conference is participant-driven, we aim to select a gender-balanced group of individuals who will bring diverse and informed perspectives to the discussions. Participants will be selected from all continents, representing a variety of worldviews, educational backgrounds, and professional experiences.
6. 3. 2023 | Bled Strategic Forum, PR, Young BSF
‘Provocation, Uncertainty, Turbulence: Lighthouse in The Tempest?‘ was the main title of the 2023 Raisina Dialogue, the leading geopolitical and geoeconomic conference in India and the South Asian Region, held in New Delhi (India) between 2 and 4 March 2023.
The Bled Strategic Forum organising team from the Centre for European Perspective and Slovenian Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs was there listening to engaging discussions, meeting new international partners and colleagues, and experiencing how it is to attend the conference rather than organise it, thus also learning what could be done to improve BSF. Additionally, BSF co-hosted a discussion on the reforms needed for our multilateral system. In its endeavour to become a yearly platform for addressing main contemporary challenges, BSF works with like-minded international partners. Both conferences share its mission of creating open spaces for discussion and action on salient and most pressing challenges within our societies. The participation of the BSF team in the activities of the Raisina Dialogue represents a valued partnership and continuation of cooperation, knowledge exchange and joint activities organisation.
On March 4th 2023, the Raisina Dialogue held a panel discussion in partnership with the Bled Strategic Forum under the title ‘Peace in Pieces: New Pathways for a UN that works‘, focusing on reforms within the international community that have an opportunity to give new momentum to the multilateral systems of today and tomorrow. The following speakers participated in the discussion:
- E. Ararat Mirzoyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs (Armenia)
- E. Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, Minister for Information (Ghana)
- E. Tanja Fajon, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs (Slovenia)
- E. Ivan Korčok, Former Minister of Foreign Affairs (Slovak Republic)
- E. Lakshmi Puri, Former Assistant Secretary-General to United Nations and Former Ambassador (India).
The panel discussion was moderated by Mr Peter Grk, Secretary-General of the Bled Strategic Forum.
As stated by H.E. Ivan Korčok in reference to the discussion title: “all pieces are in place, but still, the war is happening. /…/ One piece is missing, namely responsible behaviour which respects the very rules (that create or represent a foundation of the international system)”. H. E. Tanja Fajon outlined that we (societies) are today more connected than ever before but, at the same time, more fragmented than ever. H.E. presented the continuous efforts of the Republic of Slovenia in the process of candidacy for non-permanent membership in the UN Security Council. Slovenia strongly supports multilateralism and, as a small country in the international community, understands the importance of being an honest broker, being capable of listening and building bridges. H.E. called upon the shared responsibility of politicians, business (wo)men, civil society, academia (and other stakeholders) to work together, to have a full picture of activities around the world and try to address all these big global challenges. The latter are not challenges of one small country or one big continent but are global challenges for all of us.
Raisina Dialogue, hosted by the Observer Research Foundation and the Ministry of External Affairs of India, is an international forum of cross-sectorial cooperation that connects representatives of global initiatives, decision-makers, academia, private sector and business, non-governmental organisations and civil society, young leaders and all interested stakeholders. The dynamic conference is interwoven with additional events, discussions and conferences, with a high degree of support for young people in the form of the Raisina Young Fellows programme. The challenges creating a tempest and disruption within the international community, with challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and breaches of international law, have inspired the theme of the conference edition, focusing on cooperation, creativity and joint approach, powering lighthouses that identify and lead opportunities within our societies.
The Raisina Dialogue, through its comprehensive and progressive thematical focus, inclusive partnership and delegate participation (connecting representatives from all parts of the globe), and dynamically engaging cooperation formats, facilitated a unique generator for discussion, networking and shared work that recognises and supports each individual or organisation to be a beacon of progress at the local, national and international level.
The Bled Strategic Forum team returns to Slovenia with newly established networks, partnerships and good practices that will be invested in the preparation of the upcoming 18th edition of the BSF and 12th edition of the Young BSF.
