Periodic Report Albania

In the last decades, the world has been transformed fast, and the revolution of economy, communication and culture, has largely influenced the development of cultural industries. These industries are playing an increasingly crucial role in the development of economy in general. The 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions is the most important tool to develop such industries according to commonly set objectives and measures. Encourage creation, support production, stimulate dissemination and promote access to cultural expressions are the objective of this Convention.

The Republic of Albania ratified the UNESCO Convention on the Diversity of Cultural Expressions on 17.12.2066 and since then, it has been the ambition of the Government of Albania to ensure the achievement of these objectives in the country.

Albania has been a member of the Intergovernmental Committee for the years 2007-2009 and it participated in the First Intergovernmental Committee on the Protection and the Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, held in Ottawa, Canada on 13 December, 2008.

Since then, considerable efforts to implement the obligations deriving from the Convention have been made. The main objectives in broad terms have been to strengthen the place and role of culture in the policies and programmes compiled by the Ministry of Tourism, Culture, Youth and Sports of Albania, which is the main institution responsible from the implementation of the Convention; strengthening the contribution of culture to sustainable development and increasing collaboration with other countries in the field of cultural industries; promoting intercultural dialogue through the implementation of different projects, awareness-raising activities and exchanges of good practices.

Specific objectives have been set up meanwhile such as:

• The establishment of proper mechanisms to enable the development of diverse cultural communities in Albania;
• The encouragement of projects on regional and international cooperation amongst libraries, information centres and cultural institutions, aiming to motivate the preservation, study and deep understanding of diverse cultures;
• The involvement of cultural institutions in cooperation programmes and exchange of information and ideas, the reorganization of the library system and the inclusion of new technologies in drafting a common electronic catalogue;
• The promotion and distribution of the Albanian written art and culture, projects to finance different editions, literature evenings, supporting the diverse cultural expressions through National prices in literature, bibliophile, drama, etc.