Edi Rama

Edi Rama is a politician, artist and publicist.  He is currently the Mayor of Tirana,  the capital of Albania for the third mandate  and the President of the Albanian Socialist Party.

On October 2000, Edi Rama ran into the mayoralty of Tirana as an independent candidate supported by the Socialist Party of Albania and gathered 57% of the votes and   was  elected as the Mayor of Tirana.

Mayor Rama was re elected for his second mandate on December 2003 as the Mayor of the Capital City.

Rama also is the President of the Albanian Association of Mayors.

Mr. Rama has been a professor of Arts in the Albanian Academy of Arts.  He
has served as Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports from 1998-2000.

Mr. Rama is one of the founders and key player of the democratic movement that brought about the collapsing of the communist state in 1990-1992. He is a founding member of the Movement for Democracy, a political group that played a determining role in the struggle for democracy during 1996-1997.

Mr.Rama’s articles and analysis have appeared in several newspapers and magazines such as the Albanian largest magazine, Klan Magazine, and largest
Albanian newspapers such as Shekulli and Koha Jone, as well as in The
New York Times, The Guardian, Panorama, Frankfurter Allhemeine Zeitung, The Independent, World Link Magazine, an edition of the World Economic Forum, which has selected Mayor Edi Rama in the Dream Cabinet for  2002  among other world political personalities and together with Mayor of New York Rudy Giuliani.

Mr. Rama is also author of several personal painting exhibitions in Europe, North and South America, and other.  Personal exhibitions include Janos Gallery, New York (1993), Place de Mediatheque, France (1995), Palais Jalta, Frankfurt, (1997), Acud, Berlin, (1993), Sao Paolo, Brazil (1994) and National Gallery, Albania (1992) and Gallery XXI, Albania (1999).

He is a former Board Member of the Open Society Foundation, Albania, a non-profit foundation that promotes democracy and open market reforms established and financed by financier and philanthropist George Soros. Currently he is a member of the Regional Advisory Board of the United Nations Development Program.

On October 2002, on the occasion of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, Mayor Edi Rama was awarded for his work done on environmental issues that have contributed to fight against poverty. The award has been delivered at the United Nations Headquarters, New York, by the General Secretary Mr. Kofi Annan.

On February 2003, Mayor Rama has been chosen to serve as the Year 2002/2003 Robert C. Wood Visiting Professorship of Public and Urban Affairs at the University of Massachusetts Boston and Harvard University.

On October 2003, Mr. Edi Rama  joined the Socialist Party.

On December 2004, mayor Rama was awarded  as the World Mayor 2004, in an international competition that took place for one year, based on direct voting by internet, organized by  the non commercial organization CITYMAYORS, located in London, beating second-place Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Mayor of Mexico City, and third-place Walter Veltroni, Mayor of Rome.

On October 2005, Mayor Rama has been elected by the extraordinary Congress of the Socialist Party, the President of the Party.

On October 2005 Mayor Rama has been chosen as one of the European Heroes 2005 by Time Magazine, a tribute to 37 people who are changing the world for the better.

Actually he is running the office of Mayor of Tirana, as voted on February 2007  for the third mandate on the Albanian Local Election.