Shqip
English
Friends,
The appointment to the post of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Confederation of Switzerland and the Principality of Liechtenstein constitutes a special moment in my life, and this is not simply because my life has taken an almost unbelievable turn with this, but because for the first time I will have to serve the country differently, with a new motivation and energy, as a civil servant. I am in front of a challenge that excites me like nothing else before, and that has already made me reconsider many things within myself, even the relationship with my country and my compatriots.
This feeling or situation is not only due to the fact that I will have to serve my country as an Ambassador, but also to the fact that I will do so in Switzerland, in this country where the human being has showed/achieved its very best, giving the world an almost perfect model of governance, peace, stability, prosperity and coexistence. There is no nation on this planet that does not have something to learn from Switzerland.
Personally, I was pleasantly surprised by the audacity of some foreign author of the first half of the 19th century to associate the Albania of the time as a country with Swiss potential. The reasons why Albania was seen like a Switzerland of tomorrow are not very clear (Mountains and mountain people? Or maybe even religious diversity?), but this did not prevent some of our activists from making this impossible "comparison" and envision the Albania of the future as a second Switzerland.
Of course, Albania never became Switzerland, but something else beautiful happened: many Albanians, as if they wanted to give credence to the vision of the activists of the national awakening, about which I just spoke, have now made Switzerland a second homeland. Thousands of Kosovo Albanians have been living here for generations. Some of them are integrated, while others are trying to achieve the same thing. They should be encouraged in this integration process, but at the same time, in an effort to preserve and strengthen their ties with their country of origin and identity, they should know that the door of the Albanian Embassy will always be open to them, just as it will be for al those that have a passport from the Republic of Albania. The Embassy of Albania in Bern will always be at the service of the latter and at the disposal of the former. Not only because it is our duty, but also because the Albanians of Switzerland are a basis, even a guarantee, for the strengthening of relations between our countries.
These relations, it is known, are impeccable, but strengthening them will be a priority in my diplomatic activity. And this focus has nothing to do with any predisposition of mine. On the contrary, it constitutes the goal and foundation of the work of every Ambassador.
Regards!
Curriculum vitae
Mustafa Nano is a journalist, writer and well-known personality of public life in Albania. Initially, he practiced the profession of electronics engineer, after his graduation in this field at the University of Tirana in 1985. In the period 1990-1994, he was involved in political activity. From 1995 to 1997, he served as a diplomat in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and then in the Embassy of the Republic of Albania in Croatia. Since 1997 onwards, in addition he has written for a number of daily newspapers, such as Shekulli, Korrieri, Shqip, etc.,
He also has moderated several television programmes, such as Déjà Vu on Top-Channel, Provocacija on ABC News and Arnautistan on MCN TV .
Throughout his career as a journalist, he has been sensationally involved in the public debate, especially in matters of politics, culture, history, religions, etc., where he has been noticed for his controversial positions and "outside the box" thinking. He has also exercised the role of public intellectual in the field of interpretations in the Theatre halls. He has given several shows, of a genre that combines public discourse and stand-up comedy, through which he has continued to defend the same ideas and maintain the same attitudes with a stage language.
However, his most important contribution is as a writer. After the year 2000, he published a number of books, of which "Red Hinterland" attracted attention, which is a fictional description with some biographical elements of life during the communist regime, the study books "Pax albanica", "Sandwich" and "Gegë e toske", the trials "How I have known" and "Provocateur", as well as the novels "Farewell father" and "A week in Manastir".
Mustafa Nano returned to diplomacy in 2023. On July 12 of this year, he was decreed by the President of the Republic as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Albania to the Confederation of Switzerland and the Principality of Liechtenstein, a position he assumed on September 29, 2023. He is currently resident in Bern.
Nano is fluent in English and Italian and has a good knowledge of French.
