Ditmir Bushati

Early life and education

Bushati was born in Shkodër, Albania on March 24, 1977. Bushati graduated from the Faculty of Law of the University of Tirana in 1999 with the highest honors, and he received a master's degree in Public International Law (LL.M) from Leiden University in the Netherlands in 2001.

Bushati was a Research Fellow in Public International Law at TMC Asser Institute, in the Hague. He spent also one year as a TEMPUS Fellow in Greece at the European Public Law Centre of the University of Athens, specializing in EU Law, and has received a diploma from the Kennedy School of Government of Harvard University and from the Academy of American and International Law, Dallas and Abo Academy University, Finland.

Bushati has lectured on European Law and the EU enlargement process at different institutions and universities in Albania and Kosovo. He has published numerous scientific papers and articles in areas related to the EU enlargement process, public international law and European law. He is fluent in English and Italian, and has good knowledge of French.

Civil society positions

Prior to his political career Ditmir Bushati was a civil society leader and a Founding Director of the European Movement Albania (EMA).

He is a member of European Council on Foreign Affairs and has also served as analyst for Freedom House (2007-2008) for the Nations in Transition Report, National Reporter for the European Society of International Law (ESIL), and National Coordinator of the Open Society Foundation’s project monitoring Albania's progress in the European integration process (2006-2008). He has worked as consultant for various projects of the EU, WB, USAID, GIZ, OSI, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, IOM, SNV.

Civil service

Ditmir Bushati served as Director for Legal Approximation at the Albanian Ministry of European Integration. In that capacity he was part of the team negotiating the Stabilization and Association Agreement with the European Union (SAA). Bushati worked as Advisor on European Affairs to the Deputy Prime Minister, as Legal Advisor to the Constitutional Court, the Office of the President of the Republic of Albania and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

Political career

Standing as a candidate of the Socialist Party of Albania, Bushati was first elected as a Member of Parliament for the Tirana District in the 2009 parliamentary election. He was re-elected in the June 2013 parliamentary elections for the same district.

As a MP, he chaired the Parliamentary Committee for European Integration (2011-2013) and was a member of the Joint EU-Albania Parliamentary Committee (2009-2013). In November 2011, Bushati was elected as a Member of the Steering Committee of the Socialist Party.

He has served as Minister of Foreign Affairs since September 2013, when he replaced Aldo Bumçi.

In August 2016, he met with Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi at Zhongnanhai to discussion Albania-Chinese relations In January 2017, he called for cooperation with Iran in matters concerning energy, agriculture, and tourism after a two-day stay in Tehran.

Personal life

He is married to Aida Bushati and they have two children.