The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA)

The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) was founded in Bonn on January 26, 2009. IRENA is considered one of the most prominent international organisations in the field of renewable energy at the international level. Since its establishment so far the organization has already had 163 member states and 21 candidate states.
The Republic of Azerbaijan has been a member of IRENA since 2009 and on May 2, 2014, by the decision of the Milli Majlis, it became a full member with the ratification of the IRENA charter.
On November 28, 2019, an event on the final report of the project of the Renewable Readiness Assessment in Azerbaijan was held in Baku, with the participation of the Ministry of Energy, a number of government agencies, representatives of international organisations and experts.  
On January 18, the official opening ceremony of the Eleventh Assembly of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) and High Level Panel on “Energy Transition for Sustainable Post-COVID Recovery" were held. High-level officials from more than 180 countries and representatives of international organizations attended the event, which was held in videoconference format. Minister of Energy Parviz Shahbazov also delivered a speech at the event, which started with the opening remarks of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres,  and IRENA Director-General Francesco La Camera and other officials. The event was held on 18-21 January.
On 19 January 2021, Deputy Minister of Energy Elnur Soltanov made a speech at the session on “National Energy Planning to Promote Energy Transition” within the framework of IRENA Eleventh Assembly. 
On January 21, 2021, at the end of IRENA Eleventh Assembly, the establishment of the Global High-Level Forum on Energy Transition was announced. The main task of the forum will be to unite representatives of the public and private sectors, academic circles with the goal of speeding up the global energy transition, using the coordinating role of IRENA.

According to the decision adopted at the 13th Session of the IRENA  Assembly held on 14-15 January 2023, Azerbaijan was elected a member of the IRENA Council for 2023-2024. According to the Charter of the organization, the composition of the Council is formed by 4 regional groups consisting of 21 members. The group in which Azerbaijan is included, includes a total of 52 countries, and only 7 countries - Azerbaijan, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, USA and Canada - have been elected as members of the Council.