India re-elected as the President of International Solar Alliance (ISA)

India has been re-elected as the President of International Solar Alliance (ISA) for a term of two years. France has also been re-elected as the Co-President of the alliance. The same was decided during the virtual meeting of third assembly of the International Solar Alliance attended by its 34 members today. The meeting also resulted the election of four new Vice Presidents to represent the four regions of ISA. The assembly also approved the initiatives of the ISA Secretariat in institutionalizing ISA's engagement with the private and public corporate sector through the Coalition for Sustainable Climate Action. Speaking in the plenary, President of the ISA assembly and India's Power and New and Renewable Energy Minister, R.K. Singh appreciated the Alliance Members coming together to work for combating climate change. He welcomed the seventh initiative on heating and cooling to be introduced for discussion in the Third Assembly. Mr Singh said solar energy is already contributing around 2.8 percent of global electricity and if trends were to continue, by 2030 solar will become most important source of energy for electricity production in large part of the world. The President also mentioned about various activities and programmes initiated by US since the 2nd Assembly. The ISA is an initiative that was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former France President Francois Hollande on 30 November 2015 in Paris, France on the side-lines of the COP-21. The overarching objective of the ISA is to collectively address key common challenges to the scaling up of solar energy in ISA member countries. It also aims to undertake joint efforts required to reduce the cost of finance and the cost of technology, mobilise investments needed for massive deployment of solar energy, and pave the way for future technologies adapted to the needs.