TIRANA CONNECTIVITY FORUM 2021

Prime Minister of Albania

H.E. Edi Rama

Edi Rama was born in Tirana, on July 4, 1964. He is married to Ms. Linda Rama and they have three children, Greg, Rea and Zaho. With a remarkably rich and diverse career path, Edi Rama counts his contribution in arts, sports and teaching, as a publicist and politician. He used to be a professor of painting at the Academy of Fine Arts, a player of the national basketball team, and authored two books, namely, Refleksione (Reflections), together with Ardian Klosi, which was published immediately after the collapse of the dictatorship and Kurban, published in 2011. Additionally, Edi Rama has published two art books containing his works in collaboration with the distinguished artist Anri Sala. He has also been author and participant of many worldwide art exhibitions. Edi Rama’s involvement in the public and political life of the country starts with the movement for democracy that led to the dismantling of the communist regime in Albania, with Rama being one of the most publicly outspoken members and a key leader of the students’ movement at the Academy of Fine Arts. Following a hiatus of several years in which he left Albania to dedicate to the artistic life, although he remained a staunch critic in the press of the first post-communist government, Edi Rama entered politics in the capacity of the Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports, in 1998. During all his tenure he won the support and wide appreciation of the Albanian public opinion for his creative and efficient ways of promoting art and culture in Albania.

In 2000, Edi Rama ran for mayor of Tirana Municipality, with the support of the Socialist Party and marked a landslide victory against his rival. Upon taking over, he set off on a campaign aimed at transforming and regenerating the capital city by restoring public spaces that were, until then, usurped by illegal buildings and increasing the green areas, while instilling a new spirit and vision in the administration of the Capital. Under Edi Rama’s leadership, Tirana Municipality turned into a modern European institution. His projects to introduce colour in public spaces, amongst the ruined facades of residential buildings of the communist era, the rehabilitation of Lana Riverbed, the increase of recreational parks and green areas in the city, as well as the reconstruction of Tirana’s road network based on entirely new standards found international recognition, counting a series of awards, amongst which, World Mayor Award (2004) and European Hero Award by Time Magazine. Edi Rama was re-elected as Mayor of Tirana in 2003 and 2007 and led the Albanian Capital for 11 years. In 2005, Edi Rama was elected Chair of the Socialist Party of Albania, leading this force through the difficult opposition years and into the overwhelming victory of 23 June 2013.

Member of the European Parliament, Chair of Committee on Foreign Affairs

David McAllister

David McAllister was born in Berlin on 12 January 1971. He is married and has two daughters. After finishing his secondary school in 1989, he served in the German Military for two years. He studied law with a scholarship awarded by the Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation and has been a lawyer since 1998. In 2012 he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Edinburgh. His political career began in 1998, when he was elected as a member of the State Parliament of Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony). From 2003 till 2010 he served as Chairman of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) Group and from 2010 until 2013 as Prime Minister of Niedersachsen. He is a Member of the European Parliament since 2014 and is a Vice President of the European
People’s Party (EPP). He chairs the Committee on Foreign Affairs in the European Parliament and serves as Co-Chair of the UK Contact Group.

H.E. Belinda Balluku

Biography

Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Albania

H.E. Olta Xhaçka

Mrs. Olta Xhaçka, was born in the city of Tirana on December 25, 1979. As of January 2021, Mrs. Xhaçka is Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs. She completed an honorary degree in Political Science and International Relations, as well as a postgraduate degree in Public Administration at Clark University in Massachusetts, USA. Prior to her political engagement, she was an active part of civil society in the field of human rights and good governance, and worked as a lecturer in political science at New York University, Tirana. As of 2009, she is part of the Parliamentary Group of the Socialist Party, initially as a representative of the Korça region for two legislatures in the Albanian Parliament. In June 2017, she was elected representative of Tirana in the Albanian Parliament and in the general elections of April 2021, she was voted as a deputy in the Korça Region, Kolonjë Municipality. In March 2017 Mrs. Xhaçka was appointed Minister of Social Welfare and Youth. In September 2017, she was appointed Minister of Defense, a position she held until January 2021. During her tenure, Xhaçka directed important projects in the defense field such as the modernization of the Armed Forces, the selection of the Kuçova air base as the first and the only NATO air base in the region or the certification of the Armed Forces Academy as the only educational institution in the field of defense in Albania. As a human rights activist, mainly in the field of gender equality and as chairwoman of the Socialist Women’s Forum, Ms. Xhaçka has chaired the Parliamentary Subcommittee on Juvenile Affairs, Gender Equality and Domestic Violence and has been a member of the Committee on Labor, Social Affairs and Health. Mrs. Xhaçka is a member of the Presidency of the Socialist Party.

Acting Director-General, DG- NEAR

Maciej Popowski

Maciej Popowski is Acting Director-General in the Directorate General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations of the European Commission. Ambassador Popowski is a Polish diplomat with 25 years of professional experience. He was director for EU affairs at the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the time of Poland’s accession negotiations. In 2001-2008 he was Deputy Head of the Permanent Representation of the Republic of Poland to the European Union. In 2003-2008 he was Poland’s first permanent representative in the EU’s Political and Security Committee. He then joined the European Commission as Director in DG Development focusing on policy coherence, aid effectiveness, financing, relations with other donors and public information. In 2009 he was seconded from the European Commission to become head of cabinet of Jerzy Buzek, President of the European Parliament. From 2011 until 2015 he was Deputy Secretary-General of the European External Action Service. Since 2016 Mr Popowski is Deputy Director-General in the Directorate General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations of the European Commission.

Director for the EU Financial Framework and EU Policies, German Federal Foreign Office

Sabine Stöhr

Sabine Stöhr is a career diplomat at the Federal Foreign Ministry in Berlin with more than 25 years of experience in diplomacy. She is currently Director for the EU Financial Framework and EU Policies. Foreign postings included Kyiv, Moscow and the OSCE in Vienna. In the Federal Foreign Office, she served, inter alia, as spokesperson forEU affairs and as Head of Unit for the Western Balkans. She graduated from Mainz University with a Master´s degree in Slavonic Studies, History of Eastern Europe and Journalism.

Rector of the College of Europe / Former High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the EC

Federica Mogherini

Federica Mogherini is the Rector of the College of Europe since September 2020. She co-chairs the United Nations High Level Panel on Internal Displacement since January 2020. Previously she has served as the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission, from 2014 to 2019. Prior to joining the EU, she was Italian Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (2014), and a Member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies (2008-14). In her parliamentary capacity, she was Head of the Italian Delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly and Vice-President of its Political Committee (2013-14); member of the Italian Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (2008-13); Secretary of the Defence Committee (2008-13); and member of the Foreign Affairs Committee. She also coordinated the Inter-Parliamentary Group for Development Cooperation. Federica Mogherini is a Fellow of the Harvard Kennedy School. She is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the International Crisis Group, Fellow of the German Marshall Fund, member of the Group of Eminent Persons of the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization, member of the European Leadership Network for Multilateral Nuclear Disarmament and Non-Proliferation, and member of the Board of Directors of the Italian Institute for Foreign Affairs (IAI). She has a degree in Political Science from the University of Rome “La Sapienza”.

Ambassador at Large for Connectivity in the EEAS

Romana Vlahutin

Ambassador Romana VLAHUTIN is a career diplomat. Before joining Croatian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1999 she worked as an analyst for the Bassiouni UN Commission for former Yugoslavia, the UN Tribunal (ICTY) in The Hague and the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington DC. As a Croatian diplomat she served in embassies in Washington (Head of Political Section) and Belgrade (Deputy Ambassador), and as the Head of Strategic Analysis and Policy Planning at the MFA in Zagreb (2000-2004). She also served as a Political Director of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo (2006- 2007). From 2010-2014 she was the Foreign Policy Advisor to the President of Croatia. Most recently she was posted as the EU Ambassador to Albania (2014-2018). As of 1 March 2019 she has been appointed Ambassador at Large / Special Envoy for Connectivity in the European External Action Service. Ambassador VLAHUTIN is a graduate of Zagreb University (Faculty of Philosophy) and Harvard University (J.F.Kennedy School of Government). She is a member of the European Council on Foreign Relations.

H.E. Tomislav Momirovic

Biography

Minister of Labour and Social Policy in North Macedonia

Jagoda Shahpaska

Jagoda Shahpaska was born on March 18, 1964 in the village of Tepavci, Bitola.
She graduated from the Medical Faculty in Skopje in 1988. From 2003 to 2007 she completed the Specialization in Internal Medicine at the Medical Faculty in Skopje.
In 2007 she completed the training for Abdominal Ultrasonography and the training for Echocardiography at the University “St. George” in Plovdiv, Republic of Bulgaria.

Shahpaska started her professional career in 1991. Until 1992 she worked as a national health and sanitary inspector for the Municipality of Delchevo and Makedonska Kamenica and in the period 1992 to 2003 worked as a General Practitioner in the Emergency Medical Service at the Health Center in Pehchevo. From 2007 to 2014 she was hired as a specialist in Internal Medicine at the Health Center in Pehchevo.

In the period 2009 to 2013, Shahpaska was a member of the Council of the Municipality of Berovo. For the period 2014 to 2016, she was elected a Member of Parliament, and during this term she was a member of the Committee on Labor and Social Policy, the National Council for European Integration and the Committee on European Affairs. She is also Chairman of the Health Commission.

She was re-elected Member of Parliament in the period 2016 to 2020. In this term she served as Vice-Chairman of the Committee on Health and was a member of the Committee on Labor and Social Policy, the Committee on European Affairs, the Committee on Foreign Policy and the Committee on Equal Opportunities.
Jagoda Shahpaska is Head of the Parliamentary Group of the Assembly of the RNM for Cooperation with the Czech Parliament, Member of the OSCE PA Delegation, Member of the OSCE PA Silk Roud Group, Member of the Parliamentary Group for Cooperation with the German Bundestag, Member of the Parliamentary Cooperation Group with the Parliament of the People’s Republic of China, Member of the Parliamentary Group for Cooperation with the Parliament of Ireland, Vice-President of the IPPG for Persons with Disabilities, Member of the IPPG for the Rights of LGBTI Persons, Member of the IPPG Group for HIV-AIDS.
In June 2018, she resided in the German Bundestag through the Guest Programme for MPs from the Western Balkans.

Shahpaska was elected for a third term in the early parliamentary elections held on July 15, 2020.

Since August 30, 2020 Jagoda Shahpaska serves as a Minister of Labor and Social Policy.

She is author of several professional papers in the field of medicine.
Speaks English.
Shahpaska is married, mother of two daughters.

H.E. Mladen Bojanić

H.E. Liburn Aliu

Biography

Secretary-general of Bled Strategic Forum & National Coordinator for the WBs at the MFA Slovenia

Peter Grk

Peter Grk is currently serving as Secretary General of the Bled Strategic Forum and National Coordinator for the Western Balkans at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Slovenia. With 18 years of experience in the diplomatic service, Peter Grk has held posts in Ankara, Copenhagen and Brussels. During Slovenia’s EU Presidency (2008), he served as Chair of the Committee for Civilian Aspects of Crisis Management (CIVCOM). He was also posted to New York (2011) as Political Coordinator at the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Slovenia to the UN and served as an advisor in the Cabinet of the Foreign Minister of Slovenia (2009 to 2011) and as Chief Foreign Policy Advisor to the Prime Minister of Slovenia (2013 to 2014). He holds a degree in political science.

Former MEP and European Parliament rapporteur for Albania

Knut Fleckenstein

Regional Minister for Economic Development, Apulia Regional Government

Alessandro Delli Noci

Allesandro Delli Noci graduated in Management Engineering at the University of Salento and subsequently received his Ph.D. in Governance and Political Culture, as well as a Master in Management and Territorial Governance. At the age of just 29, he was appointed Councillor for Technological innovation, Community, Youth and Labour policies at the City of Lecce, as well as coordinator for the Italian Digital Agenda on behalf of ANCI (National Association of Italian Municipalities) and vice-president of CIDAC – Association of the Cities of Art and Culture. Re-elected, he was appointed Deputy Mayor and Councillor for Public works, Strategic planning, Digital agenda, Technological innovation, Europe and Cooperation. Today, he is regional Minister for Economic Development, International policies, Industrial research, Energy, Innovation and Youth Policies of the Apulia Regional Government.

Head of Albanian Office, Friedrich Ebert Foundation

Stine Klapper

Stine Klapper heads the office of Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) in Tirana. Previously, she led FES offices in Bangkok, covering Thailand and Cambodia, and Skopje and worked at the foundation’s Prague office.
Prior to joining FES she was Research Associate at Freie Universität Berlin, working at the Center for Transnational Studies, Foreign and Security Policy and focusing on Sustainable Development agendas and transformation studies.
She studied at Freie Universität Berlin, Columbia University New York and University of Osnabrueck and holds a Master’s degree in International Relations.

Head of Albanian Office, Konrad Adenauer Foundation

Tobias Rüttershoff

Dr. Rüttershoff studied Political Science und Public Law at the University of Manheim in Germany (2007-2010) and then he received his M.A. (2011) at the University of Sheffield in England in International Relations. Afterwards, he obtained his PhD at the University of Exeter in England in Strategy and Security Studies. He has been working for the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung in different roles since 2015. In 2019, he became the Director of the Konrad-Adenauer Foundation in Albania where he organizes measures in cooperation with various institutions in Albania and prepares
analyses and reports about civil, economic and politic development in Albania.

Regional Director for Southeastern Europe, Hanns Seidel Foundation

Klaus Fiesinger

Dr. Klaus Fiesinger is regional director for Southeast Europe of the Hanns Seidel Foundation. In this function, he is responsible for promoting the European idea, international dialogue, cross-border cooperation, political culture and civic education in new EU member states, candidate countries as well as potential candidate countries. Since 1992, he has been head of the Division for Central, East and Southeast Europe and Central Asia at the Hanns Seidel Foundation in Munich. Furthermore, Dr. Fiesinger is member of IDM, the Austrian Institute in Vienna for the Danube Zone and Central Europe as well as of “Südosteuropa Gesellschaft”. Dr. Fiesinger received his Ph.D. in political science from the University of Munich. He is author of the book “Ballhausplatz – Diplomatie 1945-1949.” From 2004 until 2012, he was visiting professor at the Andrassy University in Budapest. Occasionally he gives lectures on Euro-regions, cross-border police cooperation and political education.

Head of EIB regional representation for Western Balkans

Alessandro Bragonzi

Mr. Bragonzi has been with the EIB for 11 years. Prior to this position, he was the EIB’s representative for Albania, responsible for institutional and operational activities of the country, as well as of North Macedonia and Kosovo*. Before his current assignment, he contributed to the development of the Bank’s mandate management activity for EU financial instruments. He appraised, structured and negotiated financing for investment projects and lending to governments, banks and projects, while leading multidisciplinary teams.

President, ESTIMA

Ana Krstinovska

Ana Krstinovska is the President of ESTIMA, North Macedonia-based think tank and consultancy focusing on the EU, China and the Western Balkans. Formerly State Secretary for EU Affairs in the Government of North Macedonia and First Secretary in the Macedonian Mission to the EU in Brussels, she has extensive experience in public policy, EU integration and management of EU funds from the perspective both of policy-makers and civil society. Between 2015 and 2017, she worked on setting up North Macedonia’s Single Project Pipeline and chaired the National Investment Committee at the technical level, dealing with the prioritization and selection of large infrastructure projects.
Alumna from the College of Europe in Bruges, at present she is a PhD candidate in political science at Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje and a member of the Permanent Strategic Foreign Policy Council in North Macedonia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Krstinovska has authored over a dozen publications on EU affairs, including analyses and manuals on the accession process and received several international awards, including the Civil Society Scholar Award 2021 by the Open Society Foundations.

CEO, Durres port Authority

Pirro Vengu

Pirro Vengu is the CEO of Durres Port Authority, Albania’s principal cargo and passenger port. He previously worked as a diplomat (Chief of Staff to the Foreign Minister, 2013-2017) and Senior civil servant (Aide to the Prime Minister of Albania & Head of Department for Transparency and Anticorruption – DATAK, 2017-2019). Vengu was educated in Paris where he studied Humanities and International Affairs. Before returning to Albania he worked from 2010 to 2013 for the European Council on Foreign Relations.

Acting CEO, Bar Port Authority

Deda Djelovic

EUSAIR coordinator within the IPA/EUSAIR/Accession negotiations team, Unit of Macro-regions, Transnational / Interregional / External Cooperation, Enlargement, DG Regional & Urban Policy

Giuseppe Di Paola

Giuseppe Di Paola graduated at the University of Napoli l’Orientale in International and Diplomatic Sciences and obtained a Master Degree in “Interdisciplinary research and studies on Eastern Europe” (MIREES) at the University of Bologna.

He has a long experience of cooperation in the Western Balkans as he studied and worked in Sarajevo at the Center for Human Rights of the University of Sarajevo and at the “Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe” (Sarajevo HQ). Later he worked at the Permanent Secretariat of the Adriatic and Ionian Initiative for 10 years before joining the European Commission in 2018 as Coordinator for the EU Strategy for the Adriatic Ionian Region (EUSAIR) and programme manager for the Interreg Adriatic-Ionian Transnational programme (ADRION).

Desk Officer for Waterborne Transport, Transport Community

Kristijan Lezaic

Kristijan Lezaic joined Transport Community as Desk officer for Waterborne Transport in February 2021. His previous experience includes 14 years of serving as a civil servant on EU related matters in several Ministries in Croatia, such as Ministry of Regional development and Ministry of Sea, Transport and Infrastructure. Kristijan worked as a project Manager of EU funded projects in Waterborne Transport and was a mid- level manager of Project Implementation and Evaluation Units. His most recent experience was the role of a Chairman of the Intermodal Working group during the first Croatian presidency of the Council of EU in 2020 in Bruxelles, where he spent 2 years. His topics of interest include TEN-T extension to the Western Balkans, greening of transport, Inland waterways, maritime transport and Multimodality. Kristijan is an economist and holds a Masters degree in advanced European and International studies from Institut Europeen des Hautes Etudes Internationales from Nice/Berlin.

Secretary General, Regional Youth Cooperation Office

Albert Hani

Mr Hani is a civil society activist with longstanding experience of more than 22 years in managing and leading peace-building and youth projects for a number of international organizations. Besides his formal legal background and specialization on the International Law, he has conducted postgraduate studies on human resources management, gender and politics as well as history and international relations.

Mr Hani is a PhD student who practices teaching of multicultural communication at the State University of Tetovo, North Macedonia. He is a well-known peace promoter, mediator and trainer on topics of peace-building, human rights, management and project cycle management. He has facilitated hundreds training and conferences for different target groups such as governments, civil servants, police, youth, civil society and businessmen.

Senior Editor, EURACTIV

Georgi Gotev

Georgi has two hats. He is a journalist, the Senior Editor of EURACTIV.com in Brussels, writing on “geopolitical” issues, which of course include EU enlargement. Since September 2019, he is also the publisher of EURACTIV Bulgaria, bringing EU news and policies to the Bulgarian audience, and making the EU audience aware of Bulgarian politics. In his latter capacity, Georgi has become a businessman, as he is responsible for a team of excellent Bulgarian journalists. Georgi has been a diplomat for half of his career, his last post being a spokesperson for the Stability Pact for South-Eastern Europe. But he says he prefers working as a journalist. He loves traveling and has visited Albania both as a civil servant and as a journalist. 

Secretary General, National Youth Congress of Albania

Dafina Peci

Dafina Peci holds the position of the Secretary General for National Youth Congress of Albania, an umbrella organization of 120 youth organizations and which lately in collaboration with the Municipality of Tirana ensured European Youth Capital Title for Tirana.

Dafina holds a Bachelor degree on Political Sciences, another one on International Relations and a Master of Since degree in Regional Policy and Security. She as well has realized a specialization on Post Conflict Security Establishments and Peacebuilding and Mediation.

Since 2017 she is as well engaged as a associate professor on the Classic and Contemporary Political Philosophy and Politics and Democracy in South East Europe, University of Tirana. Dafina has also been engaged in the initial working group to establish Regional Youth Cooperation Office since in the very first steps and she held for 3 years the position of Albanian youth representative in the Governing Board of this structure.

Secretary General, Youth Council of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Nedim Alibegovic

Nedim is youth activist and student at School of Economics and Business University of Sarajevo. He currently holds the position of Secretary General in the Youth Council of the Federation of BiH and in last five years he has been working with youth on the topics of volunteering, activism and peacebuilding in various youth organisation but through the work of the Youth Council primarily deals with youth policies and youth rights.
In period from 2015 to 2017 he has been the Steering board member of the Association of Secondary School Students in Bosnia and Herzegovina primarily working on youth mobility and youth organising working as peer educator and peer mentor for secondary school students all across the country.
In 2018 he finalised the Training for Expert Youth Associate lead by The Institute for Youth Development KULT, Sarajevo and have been a part of many others trainings and seminars related to youth issues.

Recognising the power and the importance of youth policies and the strategic affect that can be made he started volunteering in his local youth council in Old Town Municipality Sarajevo later on becoming its Steering board member. From 2018 he started working as a Project assistant in the Youth Council of Federation of B&H and helped build the Council`s structures from 2018 up until now.
In 2020 he lead advocacy campaign #TrebaMiSavjet with the aim to create Council on Youth as working body of the Government of Federation of B&H which will in the end improve the implementation of Youth Law of Federation of B&H. Even though the Council on Youth is the mechanism prescribed by Youth Law it is still not formed by the Government. This initiative stays very important part of the work of the Youth Council.
As a representative of the Youth Council he is a member of the Youth Commission of the Parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Project Officer, Western Balkans Youth Cooperation Platform/ Cooperation and Development Institute

Gresa Smolica

Gresa Smolica works as Project Officer for the Cooperation and Development Institute (CDI) in Albania.
Her main engagement falls within the programs of Youth and Society and EU and Connectivity Agenda.
She has completed her Bachelor’s Degree on Political Science at the University of Prishtina, Department
of Philosophy. As a strong civil society activist, she has developed her professional engagement by contributing for
several organizations in Kosovo in the area of anti-corruption, public procurement and the judiciary.
Apart from her engagement at CDI, she also works on a volunteer basis as Fundraising Officer for the
youth organization MEU Vienna in Austria.