UAE | Environment

Turkey and Angola extend support for UAE's Irena bid

Turkey to vote for UAE's Irena bid and lobbying among friendly countries.

  • By Binsal Abdul Kader, Staff Reporter
  • Published: 23:07 June 21, 2009
  • Gulf News

Abu Dhabi: With just one week to go before voting gets under way to choose the headquarters of International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena), the number of countries supporting the UAE's bid is increasing in the international arena.

Turkey, a founding member of Irena, will support UAE's bid, the Turkish Ambassador to the UAE told Gulf News yesterday.

"We are also lobbying among the friendly countries for the UAE," Hakki Akil said. "We are explaining the points in favour of the UAE to our friendly countries, especially Balkan and Caucasian countries and there are certain positive responses," he said.

Turkey decided to vote for the UAE for three reasons, the ambassador explained. Besides sharing friendly ties with the UAE, the geographical distribution of headquarters of international organisations is an important factor.

"Most of the international agencies are concentrated in the West, so, if the UAE succeeds [in] the bid, it will make a difference," Akil pointed out.

The facilities and funds offered by the UAE for Irena headquarters and its commitment towards renewable energy also deserve the support, he said.

Meanwhile, the Angolan Ambassador to the UAE said his country has extended diplomatic support to the UAE's bid. (Angola is not a member of Irena).

Diplomatically, Angola is ready to support UAE in all ways, Rui Jorge Carneiro Mangueira said in a statement to Gulf News.

He said Angola believes this is a very good contribution from the government of the UAE to Irena's objectives.

"We also want to see the Gulf region in the centre of new technologies which can also contribute for the global economic development and protection of environment," Mangueira said.

About 98 member countries of Irena will meet at Sharm Al Shaikh in Egypt on June 29 and 30 to choose the headquarters of Irena.

Gulf News reported that major Irena members like Italy, Dominican Republic, Armenia , Kenya, Afghanistan and Pakistan already announced their support to the UAE and several others are considering it seriously.

Nations from Europe, Latin America, Asia and Africa have pledged their support to the UAE to serve as the permanent headquarters of Irena in order to advance the shared goal of making renewable energy accessible, affordable and available to everyone, Shaikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Foreign Minister, said recently.

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