First Assembly of International Solar Alliance | 26 Sep 2018

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy is organising the First Assembly of International Solar Alliance (ISA) along with the 2^nd Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) Renewable Energy Ministerial Meeting and the 2^nd Global Renewable Energy Investment Meeting and Expo, (REINVEST- 2018) from 2^nd to 5^th October 2018 in New Delhi.

• The three events will be inaugurated in a common function by Prime Minister, in the presence of Mr Antonio Guterres, Secretary General, United Nations.

International Solar Alliance

• The International Solar Alliance (ISA) is an initiative jointly launched by the Prime Minister of India and the President of France on 30 November 2015 at Paris, on the sidelines of Conference of Parties (CoP 21) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
• Headquarters- National Institute for Solar Energy, Gurugram (Haryana), India.
• It aims at addressing obstacles to deployment at scale of solar energy through better harmonization and aggregation of demand from solar rich countries lying fully or partially between the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn.
• After ratification by minimum number of countries, on 6 December 2017, ISA became the first full-fledged treaty based international intergovernmental organization headquartered in India.
• Till date, out of 121 prospective member countries that lie either fully or partially between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, 68 countries have signed the Framework Agreement of the ISA.

Indian Ocean Rim Association

• Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) was established in the 1997, IORA is a regional forum that seeks to build and expand understanding and mutually beneficial cooperation through a consensus-based, evolutionary and non-intrusive approach.
• IORA has 21 member states, including Australia, Bangladesh, Comoros, India, Indonesia, Iran, Kenya, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mozambique, Oman, Seychelles, Singapore, Somalia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand, UAE, and Yemen.
• The Secretariat of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) is based in Cyber City, Ebène, Mauritius.
  • It manages, coordinates, services and monitors the implementation of policy decisions, work programmes and projects adopted by the member states.
• The association gains importance by the fact that Indian Ocean carries half of the world’s container ships, one third of the world’s bulk cargo traffic and two thirds of the world’s oil shipments.
• It is a lifeline of international trade and transport and the Indian ocean region is woven together by trade routes and commands control of major sea-lanes.
• The last Renewable Energy Ministerial Meeting was held on 21st January, 2014 in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

Global Renewable Energy Investment Meeting and Expo

• The REINVEST- 2018 or 2^nd RE-INVEST aims at accelerating the worldwide effort to scale up renewable energy and connect the global investment community with Indian energy stakeholders.
• The 2^nd RE-INVEST will include a three-day Conference on renewables, cleantech and future energy choices, and an Expo of renewables-related manufacturers, developers, investors and innovators.
• The 2^nd RE-INVEST is expected to be attended by Ministerial Delegations from across the world, including ISA and IORA Member Countries, over 600 global industry leaders, and 10,000 delegates.
• The first Global RE-Invest was held in New Delhi from February 15 to17 in 2015.