Statement by Mr. Sergei Aleinik, Deputy Foreign Minister of the Republic of Belarus, at the High Level Segment of the First Session of the Assembly of the International Renewable Energy Agency (Abu Dhabi, 4 April 2011)

Mr. President,

Mr. Director General,

Excellencies, Distinguished Delegates,

On behalf of the Government of Belarus, I would like to extend sincere gratitude to the host country United Arab Emirates for the warm hospitality offered to the Secretariat of the Agency and creation of most favourable environment for this honorable сonference which, I am confident, will be a success.

We join the distinguished colleagues and convey sincere sympathy to citizens of Japan in connection with the recent earthquake and tsunami that caused numerous fatalities and destruction. The tragic events at the “Fukushima” nuclear power plant clearly demonstrate a vital necessity for elaboration of a global strategy for the advancement of mankind towards “green” and safe energy.

Mr. President,

We consider it symbolic that the Agency starts its full-scale activities on the eve of the Conference on Sustainable Development “Rio Plus Twenty” and the Year “Sustainable Energy ‑ 2012”. Practical results of multilateral cooperation in the implementation of IRENA programme would serve, in our opinion, to ensure unimpeded flow of new ideas and views of the international community on the interdependence of energy and global environment.

It is important to unite knowledge, needs and resources of our countries to ensure prompt, effective and mutually beneficial collaboration among the IRENA Member States.

Belarus is ready to contribute to the international cooperation on the issues of renewable energy and to offer the required intellectual and technological potential to this end.

In 2010, we adopted the Law “On Renewable Energy Sources” which serves as a legal framework for the relevant activities in Belarus.

In 2011, we have established an International Renewable Energy Laboratory at the Belarus National Academy of Sciences as a research platform to facilitate sharing of know-how in the renewable energy, an experimental ground to check efficiency of “clean” technologies. The Laboratory and its resources are at the disposal of the Agency and its Member States.

We expect that the Laboratory becomes an inseparable part of the IRENA’ web-based networking platform to unite leading experts in the renewable energy.

We are pleased to highlight that the IRENA noble objectives are in coherence with the Belarus initiative to create within the United Nations a mechanism for a wider access for the developing nations and the countries in transition to new and renewable energy technologies.

We are grateful to the states that have offered their active and valuable support to our initiative at the United Nations. We regard it as a positive sign that many of them are at the same time founders of the IRENA. I think first of all of Germany who has initiated the Agency and continues to support the IRENA at this crucial stage of its formation.

Mr. President,

We consider extremely important to develop specific directions of the Agency’s programme activities such as training in the renewable energy to meet the needs both of the IRENA Member States and their partners.

We are sure that in this respect the Agency is better equipped than any other international body. We believe that high technologies for renewables should remain the main objective for the Agency. We support the Agency’s strategy and Working Programme for the Year 2011 while paying specific attention to technology cooperation and knowledge management, policy advisory services and capacity building as well as technology and innovation.

Mr. President,

Belarus is convinced that this Assembly will lay ground for cooperation in the field of renewable energy. The ideas that we are going to share should contribute to joint efforts by Governments, international organizations, financial and investment institutions for the sake of the global promotion of the “green” energy.

Thank You.