State Secretary Becker promotes close cooperation
With its decisions on the 2010 work programme and budget, the third meeting of the Preparatory Commission for the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) in Abu Dhabi has cleared the way for setting up the IRENA Secretariat in Abu Dhabi and the IRENA Centre of Innovation and Technology in Bonn. IRENA will start with a budget of well over 13 million US dollars this year for supporting its members with analyses, assessments and consulting services. IRENA will cooperate, among others, with partners from science and industry. The German government will make available an additional 3 million US dollars for the IRENA Centre of Innovation in Bonn. Jürgen Becker, State Secretary at the German Environment Ministry, headed the German delegation in Abu Dhabi.
He said: "We have joined forces to set up IRENA in order to advance the expansion of renewable energies worldwide. We have established an organisation which collects and dissipates knowledge and experience as a centre of excellence, advises states on setting up framework conditions and supports capacity building efforts." IRENA now comprises 143 members.
At its meeting in June 2009 the Preparatory Commission decided that the headquarters of the agency would be located in Abu Dhabi. "We will do everything possible to support the setting up of the Secretariat in Abu Dhabi. We are very happy that it was possible to locate the IRENA Centre of Innovation with a staff of 13 in Bonn, Germany. This Centre of Innovation and Technology will focus on renewable energy technologies and their evaluation, it will closely cooperate with the IRENA headquarters in Abu Dhabi", State Secretary Becker continued.
State Secretary Becker is also participating in the two-day World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi. The World Future Energy Summit which started today is an important international platform for a sustainable dialogue on energy issues and an important forum for German industry.
The United Arab Emirates is Germany’s most important economic partner in the MENA (Middle East and North African) region. There is no country in the region to which Germany exports more goods and services. German direct investments in the Arab world are also highest in the UAE. Around 800 branches of German enterprises, many of them from the sphere of renewable energies, are registered in the country. With the establishment of the German-Emirate Chamber of Foreign Trade in May 2009 a platform has been created to further intensify these excellent economic relations.