After Asean meet, Delhi to host solar alliance launch in March
NEW DELHI: After holding the India-Asean summit and hosting ten south-east Asian leaders on the Republic Day, the Centre was gearing up for another diplomatic feat with the formal launch of the solar alliance on March 11 in New Delhi, officials familiar with the matter said.
“We are expecting at least 25 countries to attend the solar alliance meet. The representations are likely to be at the head of government or very senior government representative level”, said an official.
Leaders from Australia, Bangladesh, Fiji, Somalia, South Sudan, Peru, Cuba, Ghana, Nauru, Niger, Mauritius and Seychelles are expected to attend the meet.
French President Emmanuel Macron is also likely to be in attendance when the initiative, launched at the 2015 UN Climate Change Conference in Paris by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former French President Francois Hollande, officially takes off.
Headquartered in India, the alliance aims to meet the growing energy demand and fight climate change by deploying over 1,000 Gigawatt of solar energy and mobilising more than USD 1,000 billion investments into solar power mostly in developing countries by 2030.
So far, 48 countries have signed the framework agreement for the-up and 19 of them have ratified it.
In terms of participation from foreign dignitaries, the formal launch of the solar alliance will be the second big diplomatic event the government will host in quick succession after the India-Asean (Association of South East Asian countries) summit.