Special Cultural Ambassadors

Today, I would like to dedicate few lines to some really special ambassadors operating and promoting  the Albanian culture  in UK.

Although, Shpresa Proggramme is an organization  that advances the education and training of the Albanian speaking people in UK, I have always considered Shpresa as the Albanian Embassy and its staff as special cultural ambassadors.

Shpresa does not only help the Albanian community to integrate and orientate, but through several and continuous activities  (such as Albanian traditional dance, poetry and different campaigns) excels in promoting and strengthening the Albanian language, culture and value in UK.

I personally discovered Shpresa last year while I was living  in London, and as a student who has been detached from the Albanian cultural heritage  for more than 15 years,  being back in my country and immediately integrating, wouldn't  have been possible without Shpresa Programme's help.

I would like to thank and congratulate my special ambassadors: Luljeta , Flutra, Evis and Ermir for the great job they have done and  I would also like to take this opportunity to wish Shpresa a very happy birthday as yesterday was it's 9th birthday. May all your dreams and aims come true Shpresa!

For further information about Shpresa visit the website: www.shpresaprogramme.com

Why Cultural Diplomacy?!

Encouraged by the challenge, inspired by the daily discoveries of learning new languages and cultures, intrigued by different life-styles and different cultures within the same country and curious about the function of embassies, I suddenly found myself deeply in love with cultural diplomacy. More than ever before, culture has a vital role to play in international relations. Following politics and trade culture is considered as the third pillar of international relations.
 While I was thinking of cultural diplomacy it came into my mind my university teacher, Mr Bennis who gave me  an outstanding example  of 1972, where neither U.S nor China wanted to blink first in public, and where, the actual break-through which led to the Nixon/Mao meeting  took the form of a table tennis tournament. 
Therefore,  Cultural Diplomacy are sports, music, exchange programmes and exhibitions . It is not only the exchanging of ideas, beliefs, values, informations and other aspects of culture, it is also vital for national security through the usage of cultural exchange.
I personally see culture as a fundamental tool for a successful commerce by looking at our economy, which, is knowledge-based.

Culture strongly affects people through attraction , so while today I was thinking on "how to make my country more attractive?", I thought of Cultural Diplomacy, a mean that can be used even from small countries and not only by superpowers, as a  tool of promotion and attraction, regardless  of the country's  size and GDP. 
Culture and values will be the policy that I will use to introduce and promote Albania to the rest of the world.