Zoran Zaev

Zoran Zaev is former prime minister of the Republic of North Macedonia, serving at the position from June 2017 till January 2020 and from August 2020 till January 2022.  In July 2018, at the NATO Summit in Brussels, Zoran Zaev received the invitation for the start of the accession negotiations of the Republic of North Macedonia for NATO membership and on March 27th 2020 North Macedonia became part of NATO. Since becoming prime minister, Zoran Zaev has signed the Agreement for Strategic Partnership, Friendship and Good-Neighbourliness with Bulgaria, and in June 2018, the new Government led by Zoran Zaev, signed the Prespa Agreement with Greece for the resolution of the name issue. Zaev, together with the former prime minister of Greece Alexis Tsipras, is a recipient of the Ewald Fon Kleist award, the International Peace of Westphalia for 2020, the Hessian Peace Prize 2020 and the Emerging Europe award for best practice in promoting cooperation, unity, inclusion, diversity and positive thinking. The two leaders were also nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019. Zoran Zaev received the 2020 Human Rights Award of the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) in Berlin.

From 2003 to 2005, he was a member of North Macedonia’s Parliament, after which he ran for Mayor of Strumica, a position he held for three consecutive terms, from 2005 to 2016. In 2008 and 2009 the city won the highest national environmental award, while as Mayor, Mr Zaev won the Best Practice Award from the Council of Europe for the first Public Private Partnership in the country. He was elected as leader of the ruling party SDSM since 2013 and led the party till December 2021, after serving as vice president between 2006 and 2013. Mr Zaev has been a member of the SDSM since 1996. Since June 2022 Zoran Zaev is one of the founders and director of “Zaev Foundation One Society For All”. He is an economist, married and father of two children.