Abu Dhabi, Jun 18th, 2009 UAE President HH Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan has signed the statute of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).

The instrument of ratification was deposited at the German Foreign Ministry in Berlin today by the UAE ambassador to Berlin HE Mohammed Ahmed Al Mahmoud.

The Federal Decree 37 of 2009 has made the UAE the first country to ratify the IRENA statute.

This signalled to the 98 fellow member countries in IRENA and the world at large, UAE’s support and commitment to bringing renewable energy solutions to all nations, developed and developing.

The UAE has also officially submitted a bid to host IRENA’s headquarters in Abu Dhabi, the capital city of the United Arab Emirates.

‘The support we have received from countries around the globe for our work on IRENA, and in particular our offer to host IRENA’s headquarters in Masdar City in Abu Dhabi has been tremendous,’ said UAE Foreign Minister HH Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

‘Nations ranging from Europe, to Latin America, from Asia to Africa have pledged their support for 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. Many believe it is time for an international agency to be placed in this region – in a country that creates the bridge between developed and developing and in a country that offers its whole-hearted commitment to the cause of renewable energy and climate change’, he added.

As part of the UAE bid to host IRENA, the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development has made an unprecedented offer to help IRENA engage developing nations in real, tangible ways by creating a special endowed fund of up to USD50 million dollars annually solely for IRENA-approved renewable energy development projects in developing nations with a concentration on low-cost and low maintenance technology that meets the needs of those nations.