Albania’s Prime Minister was pictured sporting an unorthodox choice of footwear at a NATO summit on Wednesday.
Edi Rama wore a pair of white trainers that contrasted the formal and polished look of his counterparts at The Hague.
Rama can be easily spotted in official photos from the event, as his white shoes starkly stand out against the dark outfits worn by the other politicians.
One image shoes the Albanian leader towering over NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and Netherlands’ Prime Minister Dick Schoof during the summit, as he sports his sleek pair of trainers.
In other images, he is shown posing for a photograph with world leaders, including US President Donald Trump, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan, while he dons a more casual look compared to his counterparts.
His fashion choice raised eyebrows, with several social media users commenting on his attire.
While some accounts on X seemed to like Rama’s look – with one user commenting that he ‘looks fresh af’ – others appeared to think his footwear was inappropriate for the occasion.
‘This is so shameful’, one X user wrote. ‘Such high-level diplomatic events require formal attire as a sign of respect for the hosts, the occasion, and international protocol. Showing up in sneakers…is just plain disrespectful.’
‘He’s so embarrassing’, another user said.
A third wrote: ‘Atrocious fit holy s**t’.
Another social media account took a different approach by suggesting that the Albanian leader was trying to send a message at the event.
‘Edi Rama, the prime minister of Albania, makes a statement with his white sneakers against the uniformly dressed other NATO men and women’, the internet user wrote.
This is not the first time Rama has been pictured wearing trainers at an official event.
Last year, he was pictured sporting similar white trainers at the 4th European Political Community Summit in Blenheim Palace, where he was photographed standing between Starmer and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.
The annual NATO summit wrapped up on Wednesday.
In a memorable moment, NATO chief Rutte likened President Trump to a ‘daddy’ who ‘has to sometimes use strong language’ to stop a conflict between two warring entities.
His comment came after the US leader repeatedly berated Middle East foes Israel in a foul-mouthed tirade.
The NATO event was concluded with leaders of the 32 member countries endorsing a final summit statement saying that they were committed to investing five per cent of their annual gross domestic product on core defense and security spending by 2035.
The show of unity vindicated NATO Secretary-General Rutte’s billing of the summit as ‘transformational,’ even though it papered over divisions.
Spain had already officially announced that it cannot meet the target, and others have voiced reservations, but the investment pledge includes a review of spending in 2029 — after the next U.S. presidential elections — to monitor progress and reassess the security threat posed by Russia.
The leaders also underlined their ‘ironclad commitment’ to NATO’s collective security guarantee – ‘that an attack on one is an attack on all.’
Ahead of the summit, Trump had again raised doubts over whether the United States would defend its allies.
‘Together, allies have laid the foundations for a stronger, fairer and more lethal NATO,’ Rutte told reporters after chairing the meeting in The Hague. ‘This will fuel a quantum leap in our collective defense.’
The spending hike requires each countries to spend billions of dollars. It comes as the United States — NATO’s biggest-spending member — shifts its attention away from Europe to focus on security priorities elsewhere, notably in the Middle East and Indo-Pacific.
