Behgjet Pacolli

In Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, the Mabetex group built the award-winning project for the town house. Mabetex has been working on two projects since 2019, the Vip Terminal and the international terminal at Tashkents Airport, with completion expected in mid-2020.

On 26 November 2019, an earthquake struck Albania. As outgoing Kosovo Deputy Prime Minister Behgjet Pacolli and his family personally donated 1 million euros to the relief effort.

In 2018, Pacolli said in Vienna that his ancestors used to be Orthodox Christians, before converting to Islam.

In 2018 Mabetex started new construction projects in the Mongolian capital Ulam Batur and its surroundings, the luxurious “Turtle Rock Resort” as well as exclusive residences and a Boutique Hotel

From September 2017 to February 2020, Behgjet Pacolli served as Vice Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of the Republic of Kosovo with great commitment.

The presidential residence is part of a complex of modern administration buildings in the new city center and serves as a symbol for the new face of Kazakhstan. The Mabetex group is active in the country's construction sector and has constructed almost 40% of the buildings in the new districts of Astana. One of the most recent projects is the Classic Theater House for Opera and Ballet: The Opera House is the largest in Central Asia and was opened on June 21, 2013.

In 2011 Pacolli had the luxurious Swiss Diamond Hotel built on the Mother Teresa Boulevard near the central Skanderbeg Square in the middle of the capital Pristina. The six-story building has 141 equipped rooms and a spacious wellness and spa area. The hotel was awarded the 5-star Diamond Award by the American Academy of Hospitality Sciences.

On 22 February 2011, Behgjet Pacolli was elected the 3rd President of the Republic of Kosovo. During the first days in his new role, he visited Mitrovica and crossed into Serb-majority North Kosovo to reaffirm Kosovo's authority and sovereignty on the area. Pacolli went on two out-of-the-country visits as the President of Kosovo, visiting Albania and Macedonia.

He left the role (though without formally resigning) on 4 April 2011, after the Constitutional Court of Kosovo had ruled that his election procedure had been irregular.

Since Kosovo's declaration of independence in February 2008, Pacolli has been working diligently lobbying countries to officially recognize Kosovo as an independent country. Pacolli continues his lobbying activities all around the world, where he meets senior leaders of world countries in an attempt to convince them of the arguments in favor of recognizing Kosovo's independence.

In the 2007 elections, AKR becomes the third party and leads the parliamentary opposition in Kosovo, giving its contribution to the declaration of Kosovo's independence on February 17th, 2008. During this period, although in opposition, Behgjet Pacolli continued to work towards achieving international recognition of Kosovo's independence.

The New Kosovo Alliance's lobbying mission, was considered fulfilled by Pacolli and other members of the organization, at the time when President Bush during his visit to Tirana in June 2007, stated, "Kosovo must be a country, an independent republic, now".

On 17 March 2006, The New Kosovo Alliance (AKR) changes its function and is transformed into a political party.

Behgjet Pacolli's commitment to improving the livelihood in his homeland began soon after the war in Kosovo ended. In 2005 he created the lobbying company "The New Kosovo Alliance", through which he lobbied exclusively for the creation of the country of Kosovo. In this journey, Pacolli collaborated with many important figures in world politics, especially American leaders, such as Frank Carlucci, Morton Abramovitz, S. Waterman, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Janusz Bugajski, Henry Kissinger, and many others. For four years, he was also a member of the board of trustees of the Center for International and Strategic Studies (CSIS), in the Committee led by Henry Kissinger, during which time he continued his lobbying efforts towards creating the appropriate conditions for declaring Kosovo an independent country.

Throughout his career in global business, Behgjet Pacolli also developed philanthropic activities. Through the foundation which holds his name, he stimulates the education of youth in elite schools, helps the poor, builds schools, hospitals, supports sports, culture, etc. In 1993, Pacolli established "Les Enfants du Sakha", presently known as "Ibrahim Kodra Foundation" a fund with the stated goal of providing help in the medical care, education and recreation of children. Several times, Pacolli has also been directly involved in the release of hostages in Afghanistan and in other countries undergoing conflict. In 2004, three United Nations workers were taken hostage in Kabul, Annette Flannigan, Angelito Nayan and Shqipe Hebibi, who was from Kosovo and had neither representation nor support from the outside. Behgjet Pacolli traveled to Afghanistan for one month of intensive personal work and negotiations on their behalf and has been credited with securing their release. It was two years later that the whole story repeated itself when the Italian citizen, Gabrielle Torsello was kidnapped in Afghanistan. Behgjet Pacolli was contacted by the Italian services in order to negotiate his liberation and was successful in doing so.

In 1992 Pacolli worked closely with the Yakut Mayor Pavel Borodin on several construction projects in Yakutia, Russia. Following the appointment of Pavel Borodin as head of Russia's presidential real estate, Mabetex was able to secure several major contracts for the renovation, renovation and restoration of the former parliament of the Russian Federation, the Russian State Opera, the State Duma and the Moscow Kremlin. Mabetex also built the Swiss Diamond Hotel - the first luxury hotel to be built in Russia's new era.

In the fall of 1990, he founded Mabetex Project Management, a construction company based in Lugano, Switzerland, which has developed into a large business group now called the Mabetex Group, with interests in construction, banking, insurance, hospital, media, design, etc.

Behgjet Pacolli went to graduate school at the Mösinger Zurich Institute, where he received his master's degree in Marketing and Management (1980-1982). He speaks various foreign languages, including: English, French, German, Italian, Russian, Spanish, and Serbo-Croatian.

From 1976 to 1980, Behgjet Pacolli held important management positions in several companies, such as, Commercial Director for Regional Development of the company Peter Zimmer in Kufstein, Austria, Commercial Director of Interplastica Project Engineering in Morbio Inf., Switzerland, and afterwards he was named General Director at the same company (Interplastica).

In 1974, Behgjet Pacolli started his career as a Foreign Language Correspondent and Deputy Director for Development at the Textile Enterprise in Gjilan. He held this position until 1975 when he once again left Kosovo to move to the West to pursue career opportunities.

Behgjet Pacolli (born in Marec, Prishtina) is the son of Isa and Nazmije, the second of ten children, married to Mrs. Masha Pacolli. He is the father of three daughters (Arbresha, Selena, Hana) and three sons (Isa, Diar and Arman). He completed his primary education in Marec and high school in Prishtina. He is Kosovo Albanian by ethnicity but has a Swiss citizenship as well. After receiving his bachelor's degree from the Hamburg Institute of Foreign Trade in Hamburg, Germany (1970-1973), in 1974, he completed his military service in the Yugoslav army and returned to Kosovo.

Behgjet Isa Pacolli (born 30 August 1951; Albanian pronunciation: [bɛhˈɟɛt paˈt͡so:ɫi] ) is a Kosovar politician who is serving as the First Deputy Prime Minister of Kosovo and Minister of Foreign Affairs. Pacolli is a former President of Kosovo, and previously served as the First Deputy Prime Minister of Kosovo between 2011 and 2014. Pacolli was one of the signatories of 2008 Kosovo declaration of independence.