Mariano Marcos
State University

Slovenia envoy tackles climate, energy security at MMSU lecture

By Ian Paul Villanueva
 

Her Excellency Smiljana Knez, Ambassador of Slovenia to the Philippines, delivered a lecture on the challenges on climate change, food, and energy at the Center for Flexible Learning on Friday, February 27, as part of her visit in the province.
 

Speaking before students and faculty of the College of Agriculture, Food and Sustainable Development and the College of Engineering, Ambassador Knez gave a brief introduction of Slovenia and its relations to the Philippines, before delving into her talk.

In her lecture, Knez stressed the importance of recognizing the challenges on climate change, food, and energy security as global issues and to address them as such.

“We recognize the importance of the triple planetary crises of pollution, biodiversity loss, and climate change as a global challenge. To tackle all these, we need to be aware that we can only do it when we work together. Because these challenges are global or at least regional, they are never limited to one single country. [Slovenia and the Philippines] have to work together,” she said.  
 

Besides discussing climate and energy security, Ambassador Knez also dwelt on Slovenia and the Philippines’ like-mindedness in a number of areas where the two countries cooperate. 

She also expressed her country’s desire to promote people-to-people contacts with the Philippines, particularly between Filipino and Slovenian universities. “We would like to really enhance the cooperation between universities and research institutes in the form of exchange of students and researchers,” she remarked.

MMSU President Virgilio Julius P. Manzano, Jr., graciously received Ambassador Knez and her spouse Mr. Dusan Ropret upon their arrival and gave his wishes for their meaningful albeit brief stay in the university.

Slovenia is a European country of 2.1 million people, whose diplomatic relations with the Philippines were established in 1993. The Slovenian Embassy in the Philippines, its first and only in Southeast Asia, opened just last March 2025, and Ambassador Knez is its first ambassador to the Philippines.