English: Mrs. TEUTA ARIFI Albanian Iron Lady,

Mayor of Tetovo

Dr. Teuta Arifi graduated in Philology at University of Prishtina in 1991. In 1995 she gained her MA in Philosophy at University of Ss. Cyril and Methodius in Skopje, Macedonia and her PhD in Philology at University of Ss. Cyril and Methodius in Skopje.

She was elected Deputy Prime Minister of Republic of Macedonia for European Affairs in July 2011. Dr. Teuta Arifi has a wide political background, as she was the first Albanian woman elected for the Parliament of Republic of Macedonia in 2002. She was continually re-elected as member of the Parliament in 2006, 2008 and 2011. As a member of the Parliament she had many important tasks, such as:

- Head of Committee for International Relations - Head of Committee for Cultural Issues - Member of the Delegation of the Macedonian Parliament to the Council of Europe - Head of the Macedonian Parliamentary Delegation to NATO

She also holds the position of Deputy President of the Democratic Union for Integration, a key political party of Albanians in Macedonia.

Teuta Arifi has also a wide academic background as she is one of the founders of South East European University (SEEU) in Tetovo and works as an Associate Professor of Multicultural Studies. She is also Assistant Professor of the subject History of Albanian Language and Literature in the Faculty of Philology at Ss. Cyril and Methodius University.

The portfolio of Teuta Arifi includes international experience, as well as many important tasks with international organizations.

She was a member of the Research unit of the Peace Institution at University of Hamburg, about the work of the high commissioner on national minorities in OSCE. She was a member of the Advisory Board in the research unit for the position of national minorities in Southern Europe, Central European Initiative – Budapest; Member of the Body Council for the promotion of equality in European Commission. Member of the OSCE election observation mission for the Parliamentary Election in Albania in 1995, Strasburg; Member of the Republic of Macedonia delegation in the Fourth World Conference on women’s right, Beijing;

And member of the Macedonian Delegation to OSCE Vienna, as part of the Human Dimensions Working Group.