Esmeralda Hasani is a lawyer specialising in international law and holds a doctorate in political science. She has more than 20 years of experience in government institutions, international organisations and European integration, with a career spanning law and public administration.
Hasani has served as an adviser in the Prime Minister’s Office since 2021, working on strategic project planning and securing funding for Albania. According to official figures from the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS), Albania received around 84% of the agency’s portfolio earmarked for the Western Balkans over the past five years, thanks in part to her work.
She has also developed projects focused on high-level security and initiatives within the NATO framework.
From 2017 to 2018, she served as an adviser on EU projects and later as chief of staff to the Minister of State for the Diaspora. During that period, she helped establish the National Diaspora Agency, the Albanian Diaspora Development Fund and the Diaspora Publishing Centre. She also contributed to a report on remittances prepared with the Bank of Albania.
Hasani has worked with UNICEF, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the Italian Embassy in Tirana and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. She spent seven years evaluating projects for the European Commission.
Since 2014, she has taught European law, administrative law and project cycle management at Marin Barleti University. She headed the Barleti Institute for Research and Development from 2015 to 2019 and the Adriapol Institute from 2019 to 2022.
Earlier in her career, she spent around a decade working as a lawyer at firms in Lombardy, Italy, focusing on advisory work for the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
Hasani holds a degree in international law from the University of Milan, a master’s degree in European project planning earned in Brussels and a doctorate in political science. She speaks Italian, English and French.
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