Behgjet Pacolli

Early life and education

Behgjet Pacolli (born in Marec, Prishtina) is the son of Isa and Nazmije, the second of ten children, married to Mrs. Masha Pacolli. He is the father of three daughters (Arbresha, Selena, Hana) and three sons (Isa, Diar and Arman). He completed his primary education in Marec and high school in Prishtina. He is Kosovo Albanian by ethnicity but has a Swiss citizenship as well. After receiving his bachelor's degree from the Hamburg Institute of Foreign Trade in Hamburg, Germany (1970-1973), in 1974, he completed his military service in the ex-Yugoslav army and returned to Kosovo.

Behgjet Pacolli went to graduate school at the Mösinger Zurich Institute, where he received his master’s degree in Marketing and Management (1980-1982). He speaks many foreign languages, including: English, French, German, Italian, Russian, Spanish, and Serbo-Croatian.

Career

In 1974, Behgjet Pacolli started his career as a Foreign Language Correspondent and Deputy Director for Development at the Textile Enterprise in Gjilan. He held this position until 1975 when he once again left Kosovo to move to the West to pursue career opportunities.

From 1976 to 1980, Behgjet Pacolli held important management positions in several companies, such as, Commercial Director for Regional Development of the company Peter Zimmer in Kufstein, Austria, Commercial Director of Interplastica Project Engineering in Morbio Inf., Switzerland, and afterwards he was named General Director at the same company (Interplastica).

In the fall of 1990, he founded Mabetex Project Management, a construction company based in Lugano, Switzerland, which has developed into a large business group now called the Mabetex Group, with interests in construction, banking, insurance, hospital, media, design, etc.

International projects

Mabetex, today is a global company spread over 18 countries, 5 different continents and employs roughly 14 thousand people.

Russia

Mabetex undertook and completed many important projects to reconstruct, renovate and refurbish in Russia, among which, one of the most important was the reconstruction of all the buildings within Kremlin including the residence of the president of the Russian Federation, the offices of the president and his administration, and all its accompanying facilities. On behalf of this project executed by Mabetex, Behgjet Pacolli was honored by Russian president Boris Yeltsin with the highest order given by the Russian government to a foreign authority, that of The State Laureate for Architecture and Art.

Upon the downfall of the then-President of the Russian Federation, Boris Yeltsin, in 1998 Prosecutor General of Russia Yuri Skuratov opened a bribery investigation against Mabetex, which was dropped when he left his office. In 2000, Behgjet Pacolli sued Skuratov in a Russian court for slander and defamation of his character and won the case. Skuratov was ordered to pay one million Russian ruble to Pacolli for damages.

Kazakhstan

Mabetex is currently working in Kazakhstan, where it has played an important role in the construction of the new capital, Astana, with one of the awarded projects completed there being the new Presidential Palace. One of the greatest symbols of Mabetex’s achievements in Kazakhstan has been the transformation of the President’s residence. It is now a luxurious presidential residence whose splendor is a delight to visiting foreign dignitaries and to President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who works there. Situated on the left bank of the river Essy, its architecture combines classic, modern and ethnic influences. The president’s residence is part of a complex of modern administrative buildings in the new center of the city – and its main purpose is to symbolize the new face of Kazakhstan. The Group, is a major player in the Kazakhstan construction sector having built nearly 40% of the buildings in the New Astana City, such as:

In the years 2014-2017, Mabetex had the privilege of designing and implementing one of the latest projects, that of the Astana Expo 2017, which was inaugurated on June 10th, 2017.

Central Asia

Mabetex also operates in Uzbekistan, a country in which Mabetex built many facilities ranging from the City Hall, to other administrative, residential and banking premises. Regarding the City Hall, its new structure and interior decoration were designed with full respect for local architectural tradition. In addition to this building they have restored the Tashkent Bank Academy, a historical building highly valued in the town. To this day, Mabetex continues to be present in Central Asia.

Italy

In Italy, the Mabetex Group was responsible in the study and project for the refurbishment of the La Fenice theatre, an opera house in Venice, Italy, one of "the most famous and renowned landmarks in the history of Italian theatre" as well as those in Europe, after it was burned. This project also required the design of all the furniture.

Switzerland

Kosovo

In the 1990s Mabetex hired roughly four to five thousand people from Kosovo each year. Once the war ended in 1999, Behgjet Pacolli decided to directly involve Mabetex in Kosovo by investing in critical infrastructure such as banking, insurance, hospitals, design etc. The investments of The Group generate jobs for more than 4500 thousand people.

Lobbying for Kosovo Independence

Behgjet Pacolli's commitment to improving the livelihood in his homeland began soon after the war in Kosovo ended. In 2005 he created the lobbying company "The New Kosovo Alliance", through which he lobbied exclusively for the creation of the country of Kosovo. In this journey, Pacolli collaborated with many important figures in world politics, especially American leaders, such as Frank Carlucci, Morton Abramovitz, S. Waterman, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Janusz Bugajski, Henry Kissinger, and many others. For four years, he was also a member of the board of trustees of the Center for International and Strategic Studies (CSIS), in the Committee led by Henry Kissinger, during which time he continued his lobbying efforts towards creating the appropriate conditions for declaring Kosovo an independent country.

The New Kosovo Alliance's lobbying mission, was considered fulfilled by Pacolli and other members of the organization, at the time when President Bush during his visit to Tirana in June 2007, stated, "Kosovo must be a country, an independent republic, now".

Since Kosovo's declaration of independence in February 2008, Pacolli has been working diligently lobbying countries to officially recognize Kosovo as an independent country. Pacolli continues his lobbying activities all around the world, where he meets senior leaders of world countries in an attempt to convince them of the arguments in favor of recognizing Kosovo’s independence.

New Kosovo Alliance

On 17 March 2006, The New Kosovo Alliance (AKR) changes its function and is transformed into a political party.

In the 2007 elections, AKR becomes the third party and leads the parliamentary opposition in Kosovo, giving its contribution to the declaration of Kosovo’s independence on February 17th, 2008. During this period, although in opposition, Behgjet Pacolli continued to work towards achieving international recognition of Kosovo's independence.

Pacolli became a deputy in the Assembly of Kosovo and a member of the Committee for Budget and Finance. With Pacolli's rise in politics, he was seen as a great asset not only to Kosovo but to its development.

Presidency

In 2011, Behgjet Pacolli was elected the 3rd President of the Republic of Kosovo.

Immediately after being sworn in as the President of the Republic, Behgjet Pacolli began a dynamic activity as the head of the country. During the first days in his new role, he visited the northern part of Kosovo for the first time after the war, as a territory in which the authority and sovereignty of Kosovo as a country wasn’t fully recognized.

Pacolli went on two out-of-the-country visits as the President of Kosovo, visiting Albania and Macedonia.

After less than two months, he withdrew from this role due to mistakes in the election procedure, which were caused by the then-President of the Assembly of Kosovo. He had allowed those mistakes which created a precedent for an unreasonable decision of the Constitutional Court. This decision was opposed by the international members of this court (Robert Carolan, judge; Almiro Rodrigues, judge), but was approved by local judges. Even though Behgjet Pacolli could continue to exercise the president’s role, he withdrew, thus intending to prevent an institutional crisis.

First Deputy Prime Minister

After his withdrawal from the president’s office, Behgjet Pacolli decided to continue the co-governance and took on the role of the First Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo.During this time, with a mandate for recognitions and for foreign investments, he led the lobbying campaign for the recognition and inclusion of Kosovo as a country in the international arena, holding meetings with more than 100 presidents, prime ministers, and kings from many different countries of the world. Pacolli has proven a creative approach to his work, focusing in the African region, in influential countries and the change of institutional regulations for foreign investment, with the aim of creating an attractive environment for business.

Behgjet Pacolli continues to lead The New Kosovo Alliance, whose sole mission is the economic development of the Republic of Kosovo, thus improving the livelihood of its citizens and especially the perspective for the youth.

Humanitarian Activities

Throughout his career in global business, Behgjet Pacolli also developed philanthropic activities. Through the foundation which holds his name, he stimulates the education of youth in elite schools, helps the poor, builds schools, hospitals, supports sports, culture, etc. In 1993, Pacolli established "Les Enfants du Sakha", presently known as "Ibrahim Kodra Foundation" a fund with the stated goal of providing help in the medical care, education and recreation of children. Several times, Pacolli has also been directly involved in the release of hostages in Afghanistan and in other countries undergoing conflict. In 2004, three United Nations workers were taken hostage in Kabul, Annette Flannigan, Angelito Nayan and Shqipe Hebibi, who was from Kosovo and had neither representation nor support from the outside. Behgjet Pacolli traveled to Afghanistan for one month of intensive personal work and negotiations on their behalf and has been credited with securing their release. It was two years later that the whole story repeated itself when the Italian citizen, Gabrielle Torsello was kidnapped in Afghanistan. Behgjet Pacolli was contacted by the Italian services in order to negotiate his liberation and was successful in doing so.

Just in Kosovo, "Behgjet Pacolli Foundation" has donated over 20 million euros for various projects. Its national and international activities include:

Honors and awards

Publications