Mimi Kodheli (born 11 September 1964) is an Albanian economist and politician who served as

Minister of Defense of Albania The Ministry of Defence () is a department of the Albanian Government, in charge of the formation and implementation of national security and ordering, coordinating and carrying out the general guidelines of the Cabinet about the defence policy, ...

in the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...

of Prime Minister

Edi Rama Edi Rama (born Edvin Kristaq Rama, 4 July 1964) is an Albanian politician, painter, writer, former university lecturer, publicist and former basketball player, who has served as the 33rd and current Prime Minister of Albania since 2013 and chair ...

. She was the first woman to be appointed to the post.

Early life and education

Kodheli was born in

Tirana Tirana ( , ; aln, Tirona) is the capital and largest city of Albania. It is located in the centre of the country, enclosed by mountains and hills with Dajti rising to the east and a slight valley to the northwest overlooking the Adriatic Sea ...

, on 11 September 1964. She received a

Doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''li ...

in Economic Science at the University of Verona, Italy, in cooperation with the

University of Tirana The University of Tirana ( sq, Universiteti i Tiranës, abbreviated UT) is a public university located at the central borough of Tirana 10 in Tirana, Albania. It was established as the ''State University of Tirana'' in 1957 through merging of f ...

, Economic Faculty, in 2007. She has a master degree in Public Administration from the Lincoln University in

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...

, United States, in cooperation with University of Tirana since 2000, and also graduated from the University of Tirana, Economic Faculty, in Finance in 1986. She has studied in various fields such as, international markets, bond and assets, labour and investment markets, trainings on small and medium enterprises and banking management. She has participated in a programme of the U.S. State Department, “Women in Politics”, and in the National Security Policy programme of the Marshall European Centre for Security Studies She speaks fluent English and

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

, and knows the French and Spanish languages.

Career

Kodheli entered politics in 2002, when she was appointed Deputy Mayor of the Tirana Municipality. In 2005, she was appointed Prefect of the Tirana County. Since the 2009 national elections, Kodheli has been a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

holding the position of Vice Chair of the Economy and Finance Committee throughout the legislature. Since 2007, she is a member of the Socialist Party of Albania leadership. Kodheli was appointed Minister of Defense in the

of Prime Minister Edi Rama on 15 September 2013, replacing Arben Imami in the post. In this capacity, she joined forces with her Croatian counterpart Damir Krstičević and wrote a letter to NATO Secretary-General

Jens Stoltenberg Jens Stoltenberg (born 16 March 1959) is a Norwegian politician who has been serving as the 13th secretary general of NATO since 2014. A member of the Norwegian Labour Party, he previously served as the 34th prime minister of Norway from 2000 to ...

in 2017, calling on NATO to revise plans for its peace-keeping mission in

Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...

and arguing that nationalist rhetoric by Serb politicians threatens to destabilise the region scarred by the 1990s wars.Benet Koleka (February 16, 2017)
Albania, Croatia ask NATO to revise Kosovo peacekeeping plan
''

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was esta ...

''. Since 2017, Kodheli has been serving as chairwoman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Personal life

Kodheli is married has a son, Mikel.

Notes

References

External links

Official Website of the Albanian Council of Ministers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kodheli, Mimi 1964 births Living people Politicians from Tirana University of Tirana alumni Socialist Party of Albania politicians Female defence ministers Defence ministers of Albania 21st-century Albanian politicians 21st-century Albanian women politicians Government ministers of Albania Women government ministers of Albania Members of the Parliament of Albania Women members of the Parliament of Albania