Prime Minister
The mayor of Tirana
Erion Veliaj is the Mayor of Tirana. He graduated in Political Science in the USA and completed his Master's studies at the University of Sussex, United Kingdom, with a focus on European Integration. Veliaj founded the MJAFT movement in 2003, heading it until 2007. MJAFT, as an organization that unified the spirit of activism among Albanian youth, won the United Nations Civil Society Award in 2004. From 2007 to 2009, Mr. Veliaj joined the European Stability Initiative to promote EU enlargement, and in 2011, as Secretary for Youth and Emigration in the Socialist Party, he organized the party's structures for the Diaspora, especially in Greece and Italy. In 2013, Mr. Veliaj was elected a Member of Parliament for the Socialist Party and was appointed Minister of Social Welfare and Youth, successfully managing the implementation of five key reforms for the country. In 2015, Mr. Veliaj was elected Mayor of Tirana, where he continues to serve
Christian Kerez was born in 1962 in Maracaibo, Venezuela and educated at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich. After extensive published work in the field of architectural photography, he opened his own architectural office in Zurich, Switzerland in 1993 and in 2017 in Berlin, Germany. In 2021 the office moved from Berlin to Milan, Italy. Christian Kerez has been appointed as a visiting professor in design and architecture at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich since 2001, as assistant professor since 2003 and as full professor for design and architecture since 2009. In 2012-13 he led the Kenzo Tange Chair at Harvard University, Cambridge. He is currently working on several projects in various scales in Switzerland, Bahrain, Dubai and China.
Borned in Madrid en 1965, Architect by the ETSA Madrid 1992,Works with Francesco Venecia in Naples between 1994-95, Scholarship granted by Academia de Bellas Artes de España en Roma 1997-98. Selgascano was established in Madrid in 1996. It is a small atelier and intends to remain so. They have worked with a wide variety of projects keeping always nature at the core of the program. Its work is focused on research into the construction process, which is treated as an ongoing process of `listening´ to the largest possible number of elements involved, from manufacture to installation. Selgascano avoid the use of games and mechanisms that lead to disciplinary issues, and strive to seek beauty that is comprehensible to any human being
Fascinated by science and musiccomposition from a young age, Giacomo Garziano trained first as a<br />musician then as an architect in Florence and Paris. Giacomo founded GG-loop 2014 in Amsterdam, with the goal to generate novel, organic approachesto design and architecture. His first project, the multi-awarded polyhedral House-Museum "The Seed of Time" (Altamura, IT), merging music,science and art, brought the practice to international recognition. The recent multi-awarded “Freebooter” and “Mitosis” projects have become global benchmarks of biophilic design His eclectic approach creates multi-sensory experiences, his objects becoming an organic extension of the user, lifting the boundaries between the human and its surroundings.
Mrs. Elira Kokona is a distinguished expert in human and constitutional rights with a rich international background. She holds law degrees from the University “La Sapienza” in Rome, Italy, and Tirana University. With extensive experience at the European Court of Human Rights and the General Directorate of Human Rights and Democracy at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France, Mrs. Kokona has made significant contributions to the field of human rights. As a member of the Albanian Bar Association, she has excelled as an associate lawyer in prominent law firms in both Tirana and Rome. Mrs. Kokona is a respected lecturer at the Albanian School of Magistrates and the Albanian National School of Advocates and frequently participates as a key expert in national and international seminars and conferences. She has previously served as the Secretary General of the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Culture in Albania. Fluent in Albanian, English, French, and Italian, she continues to contribute significantly to Albania's sustainable economic development and legal landscape.