Ceremony for the late diplomat Dilja

TIRANA, Feb 11 – The Foreign Ministry held on Wednesday a ceremony to commemorate the late diplomat Lublin Dilja who passed away last week.
Prime Minister Sali Berisha, Minister Lulzim Basha, lawmakers, diplomats and politicians took part at the commemoration in the presence of Dilja’s family.
Dilja was buried in the United States last week.
Minister Basha considered Dilja as an excellent diplomat and family member who left a marked remembrance to all who knew him.
In the seven years of his legendary battle with his terminal illness he gave a message to people to show how they should deal with such calamities, said Berisha.
“A man with few words but an excellent diplomatic activity,” Berisha called him.
Dilja, 51, passed away following a grave illness.
Dilja worked as Albania’s vice ambassador to the United Nations mission.
Dilja was post-communist Albania’s first ambassador to the United States during 1993-1997, then a lawmaker for the Democratic Party from 2001 to 2002.
Dilja also worked with the Albanian Institute for International Studies first as deputy and then its director before becoming a lawmaker.
Dilja, who graduated in English at the University of Tirana, started his career as an English professor in Elbasan and Tirana and completed some further training courses in the US, Britain and Italy for psychology and pedagogy.
Dilja was also a distinguished staff member of the Institute of Pedagogy and Psychology.
Many Albanian personalities, including top country’s officials, sent their condolences to his family.
Dilja was also well-respected from the Albanian diaspora in the United States and his counterparts at the UN headquarters.
Dilja also played a great role in lobbying for Kosova’s independence at the UN headquarters.
Dilja is survived by his spouse and two children.