Dr. Muhamet Mustafa wasn't sure what he would say to Madeleine Albright. After all, Mustafa, an academician from Kosovo, wasn't accustomed to sharing the limelight with the U.S. Secretary of State. He had spent months behind the scenes, toiling with his colleagues to lay the groundwork for Kosovo's reconstruction. In the end, when the opportunity to meet with Mrs. Albright presented itself in mid-September, Mustafa didn't miss a beat. "I told her about our appreciation of the U.S. role in assisting Kosovar efforts to rebuild our society," he says, "and I expressed a hope that our next meeting would take place in Pristina."
Being in the limelight is new to Mustafa. In the 1970s, he was a newspaper editor at a weekly youth magazine, and he subsequently served as head of the Kosovo Association of Youth Organization. By the mid-1980s, he had worked his way up to become Yugoslavia's Minister Coordinator for Development and Planning, responsible for reinvigorating his nation's economy through foreign direct investment and joint ventures. But by early 1989, under pressure from strongman Slobodan Milosevic, Mustafa resigned from the government.
Mustafa linked up with CIPE in 1997, when he was serving as President of the Riinvest Institute, a private think tank. With funding from CIPE, and under very difficult conditions, Riinvest produced a groundbreaking report, a blueprint for the future, "Economic Activities and the Democratic Development of Kosovo."
Following NATO's bombing earlier this year, collaboration between CIPE and Riinvest produced another key report, "Kosovo's Reconstruction." The very first words of this report read: "The renewal and postwar reconstruction of Kosovo should be a comprehensive and integrated process resulting in the creation and strengthening of democratic institutions and the establishment of an open market economy. The return of Kosovo's deported population doesn't mean simply a continuation of previous living standards, but in most cases it means the rebuilding of lives from the beginning, not only for individuals and families, but also in the public sector."
This policy paper, coupled with Mustafa's indefatigable dedication to reconstructing Kosovo, played a vital role in hammering out in September the so-called Landsdowne Declaration, which envisages a "multi-ethnic society that includes equal opportunity for all."
Mustafa says that his relationship with CIPE has made a big difference in the Riinvest Institute's ability to encourage democracy and a market economy in Kosovo. He notes, "Without CIPE, the realization of our first and most important study would have never been possible. CIPE's recognition of Riinvest and the importance of our work came at a critical time for both Riinvest and Kosovo."
When he's not laying groundwork for the future of Kosovo, Mustafa heads the Department of Management and Informatics in the Faculty of Economics at the University of Pristina. He also serves as Vice President of the Association of Economists of Kosovo.
Does Mustafa ever have doubts about the ability of Kosovo or Kosovars to get back on their feet? "Of course," he admits, "but ten years of repression couldn't dampen the entrepreneurial spirit and energy of the Kosovar people, and now we're looking at a whole new world of opportunity."