BIO

Albanian politician and painter who has been serving as the 33rd and incumbent prime minister of Albania since 2013 and chairman of the Socialist Party of Albania since 2005.

He was Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports from 1998 to 2000. First elected mayor of Tirana in 2000, he was reelected in 2003 and 2007. Rama is the only Albanian prime minister in history to have won three terms in a row. His party has won all six elections since 2013—three parliamentary ones and three local ones.

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.