Riza Sapunxhiu (15 March 1925 – 6 September 2008) was a Kosovar communist politician and economist. He served as deputy prime minister and prime minister of

Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...

prior to becoming its representative in the

Yugoslav Presidency bs, Predsjedništvo SFRJ Slovene: ''Predsedstvo SFRJ'' mk, Председателство на СФРЈ , flag = Standard of a Member of the Presidency of SFR Yugoslavia.svg , flagsize = 125px , flagborder = , flagcaption = Standard of a Me ...

. Born in

Peć Peja (Definiteness, Indefinite Albanian language, Albanian Albanian morphology#Nouns (declension), form: ''Pejë'' ) or Peć ( sr-Cyrl, Пећ ) is the fourth largest List of cities and towns in Kosovo, city of Kosovo and seat of Peja Municipali ...

, Sapunxhiu was an ethnic Albanian. From 1980 to 1982, he served as prime minister of Kosovo. In 1981, he headed the Kosovar delegation in a historical visit to

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

. This visit paved the way for closer relations between Albania and the Albanian community in Kosovo and the rest of Yugoslavia. As a successful economist, in 1982, Sapunxhiu became an official at the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...

. When the Yugoslav crisis began, he supported the territorial integrity of

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

but did not effectually vote, though he was registered as voting ''pro''. Nevertheless, the state of emergency was not declared due to opposition by other members of the presidency.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sapunxhiu, Riza 1925 births 2008 deaths Politicians from Peja Kosovo Albanians Yugoslav Albanians University of Belgrade Faculty of Economics alumni League of Communists of Kosovo politicians