Following the official visit to Japan, Prime Minister Edi Rama today held a joint press conference with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. Rama said that in the meeting with the Chinese counterpart, they agreed that Albania and Japan condemn the Russian aggression in Ukraine.
Among other things, Rama praised the commitment of the government in Japan to appoint an ambassador for the Western Balkans.
“Japan is a country that we respect and adore. And to be here, to share our thoughts with Japanese counterparts and to discuss our common future together, is an experience we humbly welcome.
I am visiting Japan after winning three elections and I really hope that you, Prime Minister, will visit Albania and the region soon. It is great news to hear that your government is committed to appointing an ambassador for the Western Balkans because, as I also mentioned during our talks, it is crucial for Japan to be more present in our region.
We are together in the Security Council and as you said, we have joined forces to support Ukraine and together we condemn Russian aggression. It is a totally unacceptable violation of international law and a totally unacceptable attack on the territorial integrity of another country. So we will continue to work side by side with Japanese friends and allies in the Security Council, and we are very honored to do so.
As the Prime Minister mentioned, we have seen with great interest the National Defense strategy he has drawn up and I express my deepest appreciation for this profound document which covers the issues of this difficult time in a very inspiring way.
I want to close my part by joining the Honorable Prime Minister in emphasizing the need and desire to strengthen our bilateral relations, to strengthen our bilateral cooperation and to see more developments between our two countries.
Of course we are geographically distant, we are different, Japan is big, we are small; Japan is rich, we are not that rich, but in a world that is increasingly disturbed by the sudden crisis, we strongly believe that despite our differences, what unites us are our values. And being part of this family of values is more important today than yesterday and may be more important tomorrow than today.
So hoping that soon the Japanese government will make it possible for Albanians to travel visa-free to Japan as the Japanese can do in Albania. We look forward to this cooperation being strengthened and again I want to thank with all my heart the prime minister, the Japanese ambassador to Albania, all those who were so kind to us during this short stay in Tokyo and also all the journalists present here,” said Rama.
/abcnews.al
