TIRANA, Feb. 28 – Japan has donated €75,000 to increase local resident and tourist safety in Berat, a UNESCO World Heritage site in southern Albania. The donation made this week by Japan’s embassy in Tirana will be used for the purchase of a fire truck for the local firefighting and civil emergency unit.
The provision of the fire truck will be utilized to protect the UNESCO world heritage town as well as local residents and tourists to Berat not only from fire, but also more frequently happening floods, Japan’s embassy said in a statement.
The €75,000 donation will be used to procure a fire truck which is newer and functions more effectively with bigger tank and pump capacity, and longer extension ladder, assisting one of Albania’s top tourist destinations whose municipality faces limited financial resources.
Speaking at a donation ceremony, Japan’s Ambassador to Albania Makoto Ito affirmed the Japanese government’s commitment to improving disaster prevention in Berat and strengthening and deepening the relationship between the Municipality of Berat and Japan.
Also known as “the city of a thousand windows,” Berat is often recommended as one of the top tourist destinations to visit in Albania and is also becoming an emerging adventure travel destination offering rafting and mountain climbing tours. Since 2008, Berat has been under UNESCO protection as a rare example of an architectural character typical of the Ottoman period and bears witness to the coexistence of various religious and cultural communities down the centuries.
The world’s third-largest economy, Japan has been a major donor to Albania through its difficult transition from communism to a free-market economy. Japan has given millions, primarily in the rehabilitation of infrastructure and healthcare facilities and since mid-2017 is represented in Tirana by Makoto Ito as the first resident ambassador after the two countries re-established diplomatic relations in 1981.
The latest embassy projects include a Japanese language lab at the Polytechnic University of Tirana and supporting Albanian farmers have easier access to microcredit.
