(COLOMBO, LANKAPUVATH) –The International Solar Alliance (ISA) Founding Conference and Solar Summit is scheduled to be held in New Delhi on 11 March 2018. An invitation to grace the Conference, jointly signed by Prime Minister of India H.E. Narendra Modi & President of France H.E. Emmanuel Macron, was handed over today to President of Sri Lanka H.E. Maithripala Sirisena jointly by High Commissioner of India H.E. Taranjit Singh Sandhu and Ambassador of France H.E. Jean-Marin Schuh.
2. Around 500 delegates from all over the world are expected to participate in the Conference including around 30 Heads of State/ Government.
3. Sri Lanka signed the Framework Agreement on ISA on 31 January 2018 in New Delhi. With the completion of the ratification process, Sri Lanka has now become a full-fledged member of ISA. As on date, 54 countries have signed / ratified ISA.
4. President Maithripala Sirisena attended the launch of ISA at the COP-21 in Paris on 30 November 2015. The ISA was launched by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi & the then President of France H.E. Francois Hollande. The ISA is conceived as a coalition of 121 solar resource rich countries (lying fully or partially between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn) to address their energy needs, through a common platform for collaboration, for achieving speed, scale and skills for deploying available solar technologies; facilitating strategic and collaborative solar R&D; and lowering the cost of finance for solar projects and capacity building.
5. The ISA aims to mobilize more than US $ 1 trillion of investments needed by 2030 for massive deployment of solar energy. ISA is committed to contribute significantly towards the global efforts for achieving Sustainable Development Goals and objectives of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
6. The ISA is headquartered in Gurugram, Haryana. ISA became a full fledged legal entity on 6 December 2017.
