NEW DELHI: United Arab Emirates (UAE) Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al-Nahayan held talks yesterday with Minister for New and Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah. The talks focused on collaboration in the renewable energy sector.
Al-Nahyan arrived here on Thursday evening on a brief official visit. He called on Vice President Hamid Ansari and had talks with External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna before leaving for Colombo, yesterday.
During his meeting with Abdullah, the UAE minister expressed confidence that working together in the renewable energy sector will further strengthen Indo-UAE bilateral ties. On this, Abdullah said: "Since ages, India has had good relations with UAE. The UAE Minister has arrived to further strengthen these relations. He wants that India should cooperate with the UAE in the renewable energy sector. He wants the headquarters for renewable cooperation to be established in Abu Dhabi. I am hopeful that India will consider this request."
India is known for its expertise in the renewable energy sector. The UAE minister's visit and his talks with Abdullah are viewed as significant because the UAE is competing with three European countries to host headquarters of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).
During his talks with Al-Nahayan, Abdullah said that the cost of development and use of renewable energy should be made more affordable for its use by developing countries, according to a official press release. As "developing countries are more in need of renewable energy," Abdullah told Al-Nahayan: "India is looking forward to bilateral cooperation with the UAE in the field of collaborative research and development."
Al-Nahayan apprised Abdullah of UAE's decision to host IRENA at Abu Dhabi. "IRENA has been set up as the first international organization to focus exclusively on the renewable energy development and deployment. The prime objective of IRENA is to upscale the renewable energy development and its deployment at the global level," sources said.
It aims at rapid transition toward the widespread and sustainable use of renewable energy worldwide. India is among the 93 countries, which are signatories to the IRENA Statute.
"UAE has made a commitment of $50 million annually over next seven years to finance renewable energy projects in developing nations as recommended by IRENA," Al-Nahayan told Abdullah. "UAE will also provide $135 million cash and in-kind support to the IRENA during its initial years of operations, followed by a steady government support of more than $2 million annually," he said.
"IRENA should take up the role of facilitating renewable energy technology development at a global level through various ways such as joint research and development, technology transfer through market mode, placing new and renewable energy technology in public domain to the extent possible and to ensure that low cost funds are available for increasing deployment of renewable energy," Abdullah said.
Referring to climate change debate, Abdullah said: "IRENA should ensure efficacy and attractiveness of Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) financing for renewables." "India looks forward to IRENA both with respect to global cooperation on technology development and transfer, and also facilitating low cost funding for renewable energy projects in the developing countries," Abdullah said.
