Press Release

May 29, 2012
  • Global Environment

Overview of the Outcomes of the Joint Japan-IRENA Workshop on "Accelerating Renewable Energy Deployment in the Pacific Island Countries: Meeting the Challenges"

On the occasion of the Sixth Pacific Islands Leaders Meeting (PALM 6) held in Okinawa Prefecture on Friday, May 25, and Saturday, May 26, a workshop entitled "Accelerating Renewable Energy Deployment in the Pacific Island Countries: Meeting the Challenges" was jointly held by the Government of Japan and the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST).

IRENA has designated the Pacific Island countries as one of its priority regions and the Government of Japan has also provided a variety of support to the Pacific Island countries related to the field of renewable energy. Moreover, Okinawa Prefecture, the host of the meeting, has also implemented the "Hawaii-Okinawa Partnership on Clean and Efficient Energy Development and Deployment" with the US State of Hawaii and has been proactively introducing renewable energy. In light of all of this, at the workshop, energy-related officials from Pacific Island countries (at the director-general level) were invited to discuss the acceleration of renewable energy deployment in Pacific Island countries from the perspectives of policies and technologies. At the same time, they introduced pioneering efforts in each island region by IRENA member countries, related organizations and the private sector.

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