TIRANA – “Japan is very interested in promoting the relations with Albania as it considers your country as very important in the Western Balkans. On the other hand, Japan knows that the EU integration is Albania’s main objective and for this reason, although it is not an EU member country, it is trying to help it in different sectors, mainly in the social aspect, as a way to assist Albania in its EU path,” Ms. Yukiko Constantinescu, Second Secretary at the Embassy of Japan in Albania (resident in Rome) declared during the meeting that she had with the Editor-in-Chief of Albanian Daily News, Genc Mlloja at ADN’s headquarters on Thursday. 

During the discussion, Ms. Constantinescu stressed that for Japan, Albania is getting even more interesting while she said that she would like to see more Japanese companies coming to Albania. Ms. Yukiko Constantinescu also mentioned some of the projects that the Japanese government has funded in Albania, projects mainly focused on the education system, construction and rehabilitation of schools, water processing and projects on improving the air quality. She said that Albania has to meet the EU standards in order to join European Union and air quality improvement is so important.

Mrs. Constantinescu also noted that on March 4, the Japanese Embassy will organize the signing ceremony of the grant agreement of the fund provided by Japan for the rehabilitation of schools in Vau i Dejes with a total value of Euro 68, 220.

On the other side, the Japanese diplomat mentioned the fact that the Municipality of Tirana will inaugurate a street in Tirana where about 100 cherry trees from Japan will be planted there.

Further on, speaking on the opportunities to boost relations between the two countries, she said that Japan will send tourism advisors to Albania this year. They will advice Albania on what tours it can organize, even with the neighboring countries, so it can attract more Japanese tourists.

In regard to the media cooperation, the Second Secretary of the Embassy praised the work done by Albanian Daily News in reporting the news stressing that she is a very keen reader of the newspaper. Ms. Yukiko Constantinescu noted that ADN provides readers with rich and accurate information and in this regard, it was discussed to find ways to have bilateral cooperation even in this field.

When asked about the developments in her region and the situation in the South China Sea, she said that Japan wants peace and stability there. For this, there should be cooperation with G7 in order to achieve the reinforcement of marine security and the rule of law.

On the other hand, speaking of the relations with China, Ms. Constantinescu said that China is among the most important trade and business partners of Japan while she highlighted that Japanese economy can’t live without Chinese economy and Chinese economy cannot live without Japanese economy considering that the economic and business ties between the two countries are very strong.