[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 81 (Tuesday, May 11, 2021)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E500]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 HONORING FORMER AMBASSADOR AHMET SHALA

                                 ______
                                 

                     HON. C.A. DUTCH RUPPERSBERGER

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, May 11, 2021

  Mr. RUPPERSBERGER. Madam Speaker, I rise today to congratulate and 
honor the first Minister of Finance for the Republic of Kosovo and 
former Kosovo Ambassador to Japan, Mr. Ahmet Shala, on earning his 
Doctor of Philosophy in Strategic Leadership from James Madison 
University.
  Mr. Shala was one of the first entrepreneurs to establish his own 
business in Kosovo, where he founded The Cambridge School, which is 
considered one of the leading institutions for English Language 
Teaching in Kosovo.
  Mr. Shala began his career in public service when he was named the 
Deputy Managing Director at the Kosovo Trust Agency, where he was 
responsible for directing and managing the privatization of Kosovo's 
socially-owned enterprises. He later became the co-head of the 
Department of Trade and Industry, where he developed strategies and 
procedures for commercialization, again helping to transform Kosovo's 
socially-owned enterprises into private-sector development.
  After being named the first Minister of Economy and Finance for the 
Republic of Kosovo in 2008, Mr. Shala laid the building blocks of the 
country's current economic system and successfully coordinated Kosovo's 
membership to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund in 
2009. Mr. Shala ran the Ministry of Finance until 2012, when he was 
appointed Kosovo's Ambassador to Japan.
  After serving as Ambassador, Mr. Shala continued his service to the 
international community as a lecturer and professor in European and 
American educational institutions such as the London School of 
Economics, James Madison University and Harvard University.
  Since losing family and friends to the horrific war crimes committed 
during the Kosovo War, he has been an avid human rights advocate and 
works to provide a voice for those facing oppression by expanding 
access to doctoral and master's program opportunities. At James Madison 
University, Mr. Shala has worked to ease tensions in the Balkan region 
by improving the quality of education in Kosovo and by partnering 
Kosovar students with high-impact graduate programs in the United 
States.
  Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me today to honor Former 
Ambassador Shala for his academic accomplishments along with his 
distinguished service to Kosovo, the United States and the global 
community.

                          ____________________