Andrej Benedejčič

Dr. Andrej Benedejčič assumed his position as the Slovenian Permanent Representative to NATO in November 2023. Previously, he served as the State Secretary for National and International Security in the Office of the Prime Minister of Slovenia and the Head of the Secretariat of the Slovenian National Security Council. 

Dr. Benedejčič has dealt with security issues throughout his diplomatic career. He was an Alternate Representative in the United Nations Security Council during Slovenia's non-permanent membership in 1998 and 1999. As Ambassador in Moscow from 2005 to 2008, he was actively involved in the Slovenian Presidency of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and in Slovenia's first Presidency of the Council of the European Union. From 2011 to 2015, he was a Permanent Representative to NATO in Brussels, and between 2015 and 2019, he was a Permanent Representative to the UN, OSCE and Other International Organizations in Vienna.

In 2017, he chaired the General Working Group of the Wassenaar Arrangement on Export Controls for Conventional Arms and Dual-Use Goods and Technologies, as well as the Open Skies Consultative Commission. In 2018, he chaired the OSCE Forum for Security Co-operation. From 2016 to 2018, he was the Governor from Slovenia on the IAEA Board of Governors. In 2019, he was appointed as the Special Envoy of the Foreign Minister for Arms Control, Disarmament and Non-Proliferation. In 2021, during the second Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the European Union, he chaired the Council Working Group on International Aspects of Terrorism.

Between 2001 and 2002, he was an Adviser on International Relations to the Prime Minister, and between 2002 and 2003, an Adviser on Foreign Policy to the President of Slovenia. From 2009 to 2011, he was the Director-General for Global Issues and Multilateral Political Relations at the Slovenian Foreign Ministry. During this period, he also chaired the Interagency Working Group for NATO and the Managing Board of ITF Enhancing Human Security, an international trust fund for demining and mine victims' assistance.

He graduated from Harvard University and received his doctorate from the University of Ljubljana. 

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