Executive Board

Professor of Economics, South East European University, North Macedonia.

Fatmir Besimi is Former Minister Finance of the Republic of North Macedonia (August 2020 – June 2024). Prior to this position, Besimi served as Deputy Prime Minister in charge of European Affairs of the Republic of North Macedonia (2013-2016), Minister of Economy (2004-2006 and then 2008-2011) and Minister of Defence (2011-2013), as well as sitting on the National Security Council. Also, he was Vice Governor of the National Bank (2002-2004) and economist at the World Bank (2007-2008) as a continuation of his earlier experience in commercial and central banking (1999-2001). In 2010 he was elected in the group of Young Global Leaders by the World Economic Forum.

He has teaching experience at the universities in North Macedonia and the Western Balkan region and also held public lectures at international universities including Harvard Kennedy School (Boston), Georgetown University (Washington D.C.) and LSE (London).

He is author of three books: “Economy and Integration in Times of Polycrisis” (2024); “Monetary and Exchange Rate Policy of Macedonia: Accession to the European Union” (2009) and “My Notes: Integration beyond Rhetoric” (2015).

He holds PhD in Economics from Staffordshire University, UK, and throughout his career attended Leadership Executive Programs at Harvard Kennedy School and Yale University in US, as well as Cambridge University and Oxford University in UK. His research work during the visiting senior fellow program at LSE  (2017-2018) was about the role of political economy in advancing the European integration of the Western Balkans.