India, France to jointly hold ISA Summit in March

Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) Secretary Anand Kumar on Thursday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and France President Édouard Philippe will jointly hold an International Solar Alliance (ISA) Summit at the President house in New Delhi on March 11.

"It was conceived by India and jointly launch by India and France on the sidelines of Paris climate summit," Kumar said in a media briefing by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

The head of governments, representatives and ministers from 50 countries will also be attending the event.

Kumar further said that two new programmes on scaling solar e-mobility and storage, and on rooftop solar will be inaugurated during the summit.

"French President will be here in New Delhi on March 11, he said, adding that, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and Bangladesh President Abdul Hamid will also take part.

The ISA is the first treaty-based intergovernmental organisation to be based in India that aims to help sunshine-rich developing countries to tap solar energy at more affordable prices through aggregating both demand and risks in order to bring down costs and secure investments of solar developers.