Minister of Energy Parviz Shahbazov attended Eleventh Session of the Assembly of IRENA

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. Topics such as the impact of the global pandemic on the world economy and the energy sector, global trends in the use of renewable energy sources, investments in this area, climate problems and the impact of policies on sustainable energy transitions were discussed in the speech. 
It was noted that Azerbaijan's contribution to global efforts to combat climate change, as well as reducing the amount of greenhouse gas emissions using modern technologies in the production of electricity, and greenhouse gas emissions per capita is relatively low compared to other developing and developed countries. 
It was brought to the attention that the president of the Republic of Azerbaijan Mr. Ilham Aliyev put forward the task of increasing the share of renewable energy sources in total installed capacity to 30% by 2030, and as a result of signed decrees, a favorable investment climate was set in the field of using renewable energy sources, as in other areas of energy in order to attract private investments and facilitate large-scale projects.
It was highlighted that the relevant law was drafted and auctions were organized on the use of renewables in cooperation with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.   It was also noted that investment, power purchase, network connection agreements on the wind power plants were signed with “Acwa Power”, and negotiations with "Masdar" company for the signing of final agreements on the solar power plant project were continued. 
It was also mentioned that recent liberation of long-time occupied territories of Azerbaijan opened new opportunities for sustainable development in the region. It was noted that according to the instructions of the Head of State, the “occupied zone” was transformed into a “green energy zone”. 
It should be noted that on January 19-20, with the participation of high - level representatives, plenary sessions will be held on the topics of national energy planning and application for energy transition promotion of Ministers, increasing the volume of funding for renewable energy sources, innovation to carbon neutrality, green hydrogen and socio-economic policy and the role of energy transition in energy supply of the health system.