On April 4-5, G.Zandanshatar, Minister of Foreign Affairs participated in the first general assembly of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) held in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

G.Zandanshatar meeting with delegates from Cameroon

The Foreign Minister mentioned that this first assembly is of both political and historical importance in frames of the international community, highlighting that Mongolia attaches much weight to a role of the IRENA and its goals and activities.

G.Zandanshatar underlined that effectively exploiting its renewable resources and developing them is one of the priorities of Mongolia’s developmental strategy and governmental activity program, and spoke about these activities.

He said that as one of the founders of IRENA, Mongolia wants to actively participate in the agency’s activities, develop its cooperation in, for example, creating renewable energy resources data, conducting research on solar and wind energy resources, organizing international and regional trainings, strengthening the skills of trained staffers, and implementing related projects and programs.The Founding Conference of IRENA was held on January 26, 2009 in Bonn, Germany.

There, 75 countries signed the Agency’s statute.The statute entered into force on July 8, 2010. Presently, 148 countries have signed the statute and 69 countries have ratified it.

IRENA’s first general assembly brought together some 800 representatives of 157 countries, including Prime Ministers, Foreign Ministers and the Ministers of related sectors of some 80 countries.

During his participation in the assembly,G.Zandanshatar held meetings with his counterparts from Cameroon, Eritrea, Uganda,the Gambia, Tuvalu, Burundi, Solomon Islands, and Marshall Islands. He expressed willingness to establish diplomatic relations with these countries. The Foreign Minister held some meetings in the UAE, and met with Mongolian students studying in the UAE.

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