Core Team

Mr. Astrit Hado is an experienced economist and social inclusion professional, promoting excellence in social security policy and administration. He has more than 25 years of progressively responsible experience in pension administration and management, alongside experience in public administration, public services management, financial management, standards development, digitalisation of public services etc. He is an expert of pension fund management and social securities, and one of the top players in the pension reform carried out during 2014-2015 in Albania. He has led the technical team towards the final reform proposals, in close cooperation with international financial institutions, supporting and monitoring the process. Mr. Hado has a deep understanding of the past and current policies in pension systems, social and health security implementation in Albania, issues of informality and consequences of informal employment to social inclusion. He has a deep understanding of the public and private pillars of pension schemes, based on best international practices and continuous exchange and training with the International Social Security Association.
As of 2016, he is the Director General of Social Insurance Institute in Albania, managing an institution of +1000 employees towards high-quality performance, and enabling the smooth management of the national pension scheme in the country, amounting for 8% of the GDP. Prior to his appointment, he served as e Deputy Director for 9 years in the State Insurance Institute, as a manager in the private sector and at the General Directorate of Customs. He has spent much of his career setting up and leading major change programmes in both the private and public sector.
Among other duties, Mr. Hado has particularly engaged in establishing bilateral social security agreements with several countries throughout his service at the Social Insurance Institute, leading negotiations and signatures for 10 bilateral social security agreements. He has intensified the work to increase the number of bilateral agreements, which guarantee the protection of the rights of Albanian citizens, living in other countries.
He hold a PhD in economic sciences at the University of Tirana, focusing his research work in social security management. Additional research activities has been carried on the pension system challenges prior to the pension reform, efficiency of pension system management in Albania, pension adequacy etc. He has graduated in Economy and holds a Master in Public Administration from the University of Tirana and University of Nebraska. He is a proficient user of English, Italian and Greek.

Mr. Remzi Keco is an agrarian economist, with more than 30 years of experience in agricultural economics, rural development, sector-specific management, public administration and strategic and project management. He counts on a combination of experiences as a teaching professor for almost 20 years’, of first-hand experience in the sector and as a researcher in topics such as SME development, agriculture clusters, rural development, agriculture land management, wine industry development, profitability of agriculture sector, consumer behaviour for agriculture products, agriculture market development etc.
Mr. Keco has finalised his PhD research focusing on strategic management issues of the wine industry in Albania. He is a member of the editorial board of several reputable journals in agriculture and agribusiness, and professional bodies.
Mr. Keco has also an extended experience in project implementation as a Team Leader, Team Member and national or external expert/consultant, in nationally funded or EU-funded projects, with a particular experience in cross border programmes.
With an agriculture economics background, Mr. Keco has a deep understanding of the country’s agriculture transition process to a market-economy and a consolidated experience in training, project and study design/implementation management, in rural development, sector specific policies, farming systems etc. His experience and advocacy efforts include poverty reduction through rural development.