President Maithripala Sirisena expressed confidence that the International Solar Alliance (ISA) would showcase the power of the countries in this Alliance to bring about solutions to create a greener, cleaner and a healthy environment for people of this world.

Addressing the Founding Conference of the ISA Summit in New Delhi today (March 11), he said the deliberations of the Conference will navigate the joint efforts of the countries in the Alliance towards practical cooperation and expressed the hope that the rest of the Global community will join forces with the Alliance.

The President pointed out that the world’s population growth has caused an increase in the energy demand and said solar energy can alleviate this problem. “The energy crisis is a major problem faced by the people in Sri Lanka as well as by the people living in several developed and developing countries in the world,” he said.

Briefing the delegates about Sri Lanka’s initiatives in solar energy, President Sirisena said, “In Sri Lanka we have already commenced a programme called ‘Suriya Bala Sangramaya’ that is ‘a battle for Solar Power’. Through this project we expect to generate 1000 megawatt of electricity by the year 2025.”

He said that Sri Lanka is also in the process of developing 01 megawatt to 10 megawatt capacity solar power systems to assist small and medium level industries.

“I am very grateful to ISA and Prime Minister Modi for extending support for these major solar projects in Sri Lanka under this programme. This will benefit several homes, schools, hospitals, infrastructure and government facilities in my country,” he said.

President Sirisena thanked French President Macron and Indian Prime Minister Modi for their leadership to make the ISA initiative a success and pointed out the presence of such a large number of Government Heads and Government Representatives is a significance of the importance of ISA Summit.

He assured the world leaders about Sri Lanka’s strong commitment to support this Alliance.