Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Zsolt Németh presented Ambassador Shkendije G. Sherifi of Kosovo with the Middle Cross of the Order of Merit of Hungary on 22 August 2013. At the ceremony, the following laudation was read.

H. E. Ambassador Shkendije G. Sherifi is a distinguished and highly qualified member of the diplomatic corps of Kosovo. She is the proud holder of a Master’s Degree in Contemporary Diplomacy. Before embarking on her diplomatic career, she was an Associate Lecturer of the University of Pristina, and from 2001 to 2008 she worked for the OSCE Mission in Kosovo in the field of human rights. 

She presented her credentials in March 2010, and thus, she became the first ever Ambassador of the Republic of Kosovo to Hungary. She quickly established her mission, and as a widely respected member of the diplomatic corps in Budapest, went on to represent her newly independent country for more than three years. She played an indispensable role in making the independence and statehood of Kosovo an organic part of public thinking in our country.

During her time as an Ambassador we have had a great number of high level official visits. Among these the most memorable are the successful official visit of President Atifete Jahjaga in September 2011, which was reciprocated by then President Pál Schmitt in December 2011, as well as the meeting of Prime Ministers Viktor Orbán and Hashim Thaci in Budapest last June on the occasion of the economic forum entitled „Business and Investment in Kosovo”.

Ambassador Sherifi has also greatly contributed to launching cooperation between the various ministries and government agencies of Hungary and Kosovo. Her cultural activity also deserves admiration: she encouraged the establishment of relations between the Hungarian National Library and the Kosovo National Library as well as that between Corvinus University and Pristina University.

For all these achievements, not to mention her great sympathy for Hungary, on the recommendation of H. E. Foreign Minister János Martonyi, and also on behalf of H. E. President János Áder, today we have the privilege and the great honour to bestow on H. E. Ambassador Shkendije G. Sherifi the Middle Cross of the Order of Merit of Hungary.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs)