The ceremony took place in the premises of the public library “Vexhi Buharaja” in Berat, in which H.E. Mr. TAKADA Mitsuyuki handed over the books to the Mayor of Berat, Mr. Ervin Demo, and the Director of Library Mr. Arben Qafa.

On this occasion, Ambassador TAKADA expressed his wishes that these books would provide the citizens of Berat a deeper and better understanding of Japan, thus strengthening cultural ties between the two nations.

Mayor Demo showed his appreciation and gratitude to The Nippon Foundation, the Tokyo Foundation for Policy Research, the Government of Japan and Ambassador TAKADA for the generous donation. He emphasized that the donation holds a significant importance for the public library and it contributes to the promotion of Japanese studies and culture in the city of Berat.

The Nippon Foundation firstly initiated the project in 2008 to encourage the development of a broader understanding of Japan around the world through the donation of books. The books were selected by Japanese and foreign scholars and cover a wide range of categories such as politics, international relations, culture, art, literature, economics, and business.

This is the 10th donation from The Nippon Foundation and the Tokyo Foundation for Policy Research to Albania. Since its first donation in 2011, The Nippon Foundation has donated more than 950 books to universities and municipality libraries across Albania.

After the opening of the Embassy in 2017, relations between Japan and Albania have been strengthening and cooperation with Albanian institutions has been expanding through many initiatives and events.

The Embassy of Japan in Albania has also provided official development assistance to Berat Municipality through the grant scheme of the Government of Japan ‘Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Projects’ (GGP). Over the past few years, two projects have been implemented in Berat, with the aim of strengthening the fire protection and rescue service and the improving the irrigation channels maintenance service of the municipality.