【Photo Diary】(2) Visit to France, Monaco and Albania
Published on July 16, 2025
I would like to share with you some of the photographs taken during my three-nation European tour which brought me to France, Monaco and Albania from June 7 to 13, 2025, in my capacity as chairman of The Nippon Foundation.
[June 10, Nice, France]
With Mr. Peter Thomson, the UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy for the Ocean.
I told him that The Nippon Foundation plans to organize a summit of island states of the world, including those from the West Indies and the Pacific, hopefully in either 2026 or 2027.
Mr. Thomson said the conference should be inclusive, inviting all the world’s island nations, and avoid conflicting with other international ocean conferences, including the UN Ocean Conference, the Our Ocean Conference and the World Ocean Summit.
Speaking at a side event of the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea (DOALOS) of the UN Office of Legal Affairs (OLA).
I stated that as we address serious ocean issues, such as marine pollution, ocean acidification and illegal fishing, it is essential to ensure not only a scientific approach but also rules-based international cooperation.
To attain peaceful and sustainable use of the ocean, it is vital for all stakeholders to understand and respect the Law of the Sea, I added.
[June 11, Tirana, Albania]
With President Bajram Begaj, who presented me with a bottle of Albanian wine.
The president expressed his gratitude to The Nippon Foundation for supporting Albania, not only in maritime, but also in medical, educational and human resources development.
He also said he is hopeful that Japanese firms will invest more in the Balkan republic, noting that there are a lot of investment opportunities.
I told him that it is important for Albania, which is situated on the Adriatic and Ionian seas, to nurture human resources in the ocean and maritime fields, and expressed my hope that the country would send talented people to the World Maritime University (WMU) and the UN Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea.
At a luncheon hosted by Japanese Ambassador to Albania Kikuko Kato, I reconnected with Ms. Odeta Barbullushi, a 2003 Sylff (Ryoichi Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellowship Fund) fellowship recipient at the University of Sussex, where she earned a master’s degree with honors in contemporary European studies.
A former adviser to Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama on EU integration and regional cooperation, she is currently a resident professor at the Tirana campus of the College of Europe.
The University of Sussex is one of 69 institutions and consortia in 44 countries selected by The Nippon Foundation to be part of the fellowship program. Beginning in 1987 to support graduate studies in the humanities and social sciences, the program has awarded fellowships to about 17,000 people to date.
With Prime Minister Edi Rama, a 202-centimeter-tall former professional basketball player who won a fourth term as premier in May 2025.
The prime minister said Albania is a good country for Japanese companies to invest in, noting it is situated in the center of Europe and there has been no investment in the country by China or Russia.
Stating that he does not trust the Chinese Communist Party, he wanted to show that Albania can develop without China, he added.
For my part, I said it is essential for the two countries to promote people-to-people exchange in addition to political and diplomatic relations.
I also expressed my view that it is important for Albania, which is situated in a geopolitically important location, to work on nurturing leaders in the maritime field.
I said that The Nippon Foundation, which engages in various ocean initiatives, such as developing human resources capable of addressing the crises facing our oceans, is ready to help provide his country with opportunities to develop its human resources at the World Maritime University (WMU) and the UN Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea (DOALOS).
The prime minister’s collection of pens
Prime Minister Rama, who is also a former professor of painting at the Academy of Fine Arts and author of several books, has a large number of pens placed all over his room.
(To be continued)