India has been re-elected as chairman of the International Solar Alliance (ISA), with France as co-president, for a two-year term from 2024 to 2026.
The seventh session of the ISA Assembly in New Delhi elected India as President and France as Co-President for a period of two years from 2024 until 2026. India ran unopposed for the presidency, while France and Grenada contested the co-presidency.
The assembly elects the president and co-president based on fair geographic representation. ISA members are grouped into four regional categories: Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Europe and Other, and Latin America and the Caribbean.
The meeting selected eight vice presidents for the standing committee, appointing two from each of ISA’s four geographic regions based on seniority in submitting ratification documents. Ghana and Seychelles will serve as vice presidents for the African region, Australia and Sri Lanka for Asia and the Pacific, Germany and Italy for Europe and others, and Grenada and Suriname for Latin America and the Caribbean.
During the seventh session of the ISA Assembly, ministers from 29 countries discussed key ISA initiatives, focusing on energy access, energy security and the energy transition, to address critical global challenges.
The meeting also named India’s Ashish Khanna as the third director general. Other candidates for the role included Wisdom Ahiataku-Togobo of Ghana and Gosaye Mengistie Abayneh of Ethiopia. Outgoing Director General Dr. Ajay Mathur will complete his term on March 14, 2025, after heading the ISA since 2021. Under his leadership, the organization has grown to 103 member states and 17 signatories and has promoted multiple projects and innovations in the field of solar energy. expansion of energy.
Mathur’s leadership achievements include:
● Collecting 9.5 GW of project proposals, such as a 360 MW solar bid in Cuba and a 400 MW approval in Ethiopia, and preparing feasibility studies and project reports in Comoros, Sao Tome and Principe, Bangladesh and Ethiopia , along with mini-grid reviews and solar water pumping studies in several other countries.
● Training more than 900 professionals through ISA’s STAR-C program, with six centers established and plans for ten more. Regulatory workshops in eight countries have trained more than 265 policymakers.
● Launching innovative financing instruments such as the Global Solar Facility, launched at COP27 to unlock $50 million in commercial capital, starting with a project in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the SolarX Startup Challenge, also launched at COP27, which will provide 50 scalable solar projects supports solutions in Africa and the Asia-Pacific region.
The ISA works with governments to improve global energy access and security and promotes solar energy as a path to carbon neutrality. The goal is to generate $1 trillion in solar energy investments by 2030, reducing technology and financing costs while expanding the use of solar energy in agriculture, healthcare, transportation and power generation.
ISA works with multilateral development banks, development financial institutions, private and public sector organizations, civil society and other international institutions to deliver cost-effective solar energy solutions, especially in least developed countries and small island developing States.
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