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TIRANA, Albania — September 7, 2026– Paolo Zampolli, the United States Presidential Envoy for Global Partnerships, joined the heads of Albania’s religious communities at the Bektashi Worldwide Headquarters on Monday for a ceremony in honor of Mother Teresa and to mark thirty-five years since the Headquarters reopened in Tirana.
The Bektashi Headquarters reopened in 1991, at the end of a period in which Albania had abolished religious practice altogether. The anniversary was marked in the presence of His Holiness Haxhi Dede Edmond Brahimaj, known as Baba Mondi, Head Father of the Bektashi Order, together with His Eminence Haxhi Bujar Spahiu, Chairman of the Muslim Community of Albania; His Beatitude Joan, Archbishop of Tirana, Durrës and All Albania; the Most Reverend Arjan Dodaj, Metropolitan Archbishop of Tirana–Durrës; and Mr. Erion Sylari, President of the Evangelical Fellowship of Albania.
“Mother Teresa showed the world how far an Albanian heart can reach,” Paolo Zampolli, the United States Presidential Envoy for Global Partnerships, said. “President Trump has made defending faith a priority, and under his leadership and Secretary Rubio’s, I am proud to celebrate that spirit here. Baba Mondi brings people of different faiths together to serve others. Albania’s hospitality is famous. Its generosity of spirit deserves to be just as well known.”
Albania marks the canonization of Mother Teresa each year on September 5, and the ceremony at the Headquarters continued that observance. Born Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu to an Albanian family in Skopje, she lived and died in Calcutta. Her example is claimed across Albania’s religious communities rather than by any one of them, and the ceremony was held on Bektashi ground.
“Mother Teresa belonged to no single community,” His Holiness Haxhi Dede Edmond Brahimaj, known as Baba Mondi, Head Father of the Bektashi Order, said. “She belonged to the sick and the abandoned, and that is why we honor her in this house. Our door has stood open to Christians and to Jews for eight centuries, not as a gesture of politics but as an obligation of faith. We are glad to welcome our American friends through the same door.”
A hospital on the grounds, and a signed American partner
Following the ceremony, Zampolli toured the Continental Hospital, which already operates within the precincts of the Headquarters, where the Bektashi Order announced that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with ImmunityBio, Inc. (Nasdaq: IBRX). The announcement was made by video message from Richard Adcock, the company’s president and chief executive officer, screened for guests at the hospital.
“Just moments ago, we signed a memorandum of understanding with the Bektashi Order and the future Bektashi Microstate,” Adcock said. “I have to tell you I could not be more excited to share this news with the people of Albania.”
ImmunityBio was founded by Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, the physician, scientist, and entrepreneur who serves as its executive chairman. The consortium’s second signed partner is Epitopoietic Research Corporation (ERC-Belgium S.A.), the clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company led by its founder and chief executive, Apostolos Stathopoulos, MD, PhD, whose lead therapy for glioblastoma, GLIOVAC (ERC-1671), has completed Phase II study and holds Fast Track designation from the United States Food and Drug Administration. Cooperation with each partner is set out under a Charter for Universal Healing, and further medical and biotechnology companies are being brought into the consortium.
Adcock described the arrangement as a long-term commitment. “ImmunityBio is in this for the years ahead, working hand in hand with the Bektashi Order to bring advanced cancer treatments to the people of Albania, to the Balkans, and to greater Europe, and ultimately to the world,” he said.
The partnership is built on the founding principle of Peace Through Health, Humanity Through Healing. Two access commitments will take effect once the sovereign state is established. Under the Pledge for Albania, the mission will work, as its capacities scale, toward providing approved treatment to the people of Albania free of charge. Under the Balkans Peace Discount, and in recognition of the region’s history of division, it will provide reduced-cost and, where appropriate, cost-free care to eligible patients from across the Balkans, on equal terms.
The mission’s safeguards are to be set at the same time. An independent International Supervisory Steering Committee, a majority of its members qualified clinicians or scientists without financial interest in the partner companies, will work with the Bektashi Health and Medicines Authority on scientific review and oversight. No therapy will be administered except with the patient’s freely given, written, informed consent, following disclosure of its nature, risks, regulatory status, and available alternatives including standard-of-care options. Any authorization issued under the future state’s own authority remains its own, and is not represented as approval by, or a substitute for, established national regulators.
Albania’s record on religious coexistence
Under the code of Besa, Albanian Muslim and Christian families sheltered Jews at considerable personal risk during the Second World War, and Yad Vashem has recognized many Albanians as Righteous Among the Nations.
“President Trump has made confronting antisemitism a priority,” Zampolli said. “Albania’s record shows what moral courage looks like: the country emerged from the Holocaust with more Jews than it had before the war, because families protected people in danger. That story belongs in classrooms across Europe. It gives today’s commitment to fighting antisemitism a powerful example to follow.”
Zampolli’s program in Tirana also included meetings with the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Health, the Minister of Economy and Innovation, and the chairs of the governing and opposition parliamentary groups in the Assembly.
© 2026 Argumentum
