SCO Secretary-General meets with senior ISA officials

On 14 January 2020 in New Delhi, SCO Secretary-General Vladimir Norov held talks with Fiona Bourne, Director of Resources, Governance and Innovation of the International Solar Alliance (ISA).

Ms Bourne briefed the SCO Secretary-General on the Alliance's goals and tasks. She noted that the ISA had been established on the initiative of India's Prime Minister Narenda Modi in 2015. It mostly aims to accumulate funding from international financial institutions for expanding the use of solar energy and meeting energy demands. The ISA has established partner-like relations with the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the European Investment Bank, and other financial institutions.

Vladimir Norov noted that SCO member states prioritised energy cooperation, including that in the field of using renewable and alternative energy sources, and that they supported the large-scale use of various cost-effective and environmentally friendly energy sources that help reduce environmental impact and facilitate a switchover to an energy-efficient economy.

The SCO Secretary-General noted that the Programme of Multilateral Trade and Economic Cooperation between the SCO member states, approved by national heads of government in November 2019 in Tashkent, stipulated collaboration to introduce and use renewable energy sources, develop and introduce innovative technology in this field, as well as experience exchanges in boosting energy-efficiency levels, including environmentally sound energy technology.

Deputy ISA Department Director Shishir Seth gave a presentation of the organisation's activities, discussed the Alliance's structure and mechanisms, its efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to create a cooperation format between countries with an impressive potential for expanding the solar energy sector.

He said 85 countries had signed the Framework Agreement for Establishing the International Solar Alliance, and that 65 of them had already ratified the document. During its inception, the ISA was mostly intended to incorporate countries in the equatorial zone; but the Alliance is now moving to encompass other regions, and the number of countries wishing to join the ISA continues to grow due to the ever greater demand for alternative energy sources.

Fiona Bourne said the ISA was interested in establishing partnership with the SCO, including by signing a cooperation document for the purposes of exchanging experience and practices in the area of solar energy generation.