AYV News, January 12, 2026
Hon. Dr. Kandeh Yumkella, Chairman of the Presidential Initiative on Climate Change, Renewable Energy and Food Security is in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates for the Sixteenth Session of the IRENA General Assembly.
Dr. Yumkella is invited in his own capacity as Chairman and the work he does for IRENA including as an advisor of the Director -General. Yumkella played a strategic role in the founding of IRENA during his tenure as UNIDO Director-General and Chair of UN-Energy.
Dr. Yumkella is expected to take part in several high-level discussions and will lead meetings on the margins including the Accelerated Partnership for Renewables in Africa (APRA). In November 2025, Sierra Leone hosted the Second APRA Investment Forum.
Today, at the invitation of Director -General of IRENA, he joined African Ambassadors to the UAE and Permanent Representatives to IRENA as the Accelerated Partnership for Renewables (APRA) Secretariat briefed them on the activities of the initiative. Sierra Leone’s Ambassador to the UAE and Permanent Representative to IRENA, His Excellency Mr. Rashid Sesay also attended the briefing. Ambassador Sesay is the Dean of the African Group of Ambassadors in the UAE. Sierra Leone is a founding member of the APRA Initiative.
