AYV News, May 23, 2025
Sierra Leone’s Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates and Permanent Representative to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), Rashid Sesay has attended the ‘IRENA Embassy Briefing’ in Abu Dhabi and reiterated Sierra Leone’s commitment to the global energy transition process.
In his statement, Ambassador Sesay thanked IRENA for organizing the briefing and for its excellent coordination of the Accelerated Partnership for Renewables in Africa (APRA), a body established by African countries including Sierra Leone to coordinate and accelerate energy transition in Africa. He said that under the coordination of the Office of the President, Sierra Leone had fully embraced APRA as a strategic platform to accelerate its energy transition and green industrial development.
He also mentioned that following the national consultation and the development of the APRA Action Plan for Sierra Leone, IRENA, as APRA Secretariat had catalyzed financing for the Bumbuna 2 extension project by securing a 45 million USD commitment from the OPEC Fund after presenting the project at the first APRA Investment Forum in Kenya last year.
“APRA is also supporting Sierra Leone in expanding energy access through mini-grid models for rural electrification and local economic activities. We look forward to hosting the second APRA Investment Forum later this year in Freetown which will be a key moment to present emerging opportunities and deepen international collaboration in our APRA countries for achieving our Heads of State commitment as articulated in the Nairobi Declaration,” he ended.
Director General of IRENA, Francesco La Camera said that as the custodian agency of the global tripling target set by the UAE Consensus at COP28, IRENA was playing a central role in tracking progress of the global energy transition, noting that last year was another record-breaking year for renewables, accounting for more than 93% of new power capacity overall in 2024.
“Our regional initiatives such as the IRENA SIDS Lighthouses Initiative (LHI), the Accelerated Partnership for Renewables in Africa (APRA), and the recently launched Accelerated Partnership for Renewable Energy in Central Asia (APRECA) demonstrate our commitment to context-driven partnerships and solutions. These initiatives have reinforced regional cooperation and conditions necessary for sustainable, long-term transformation aligned with national and regional investment goals,” he said.
IRENA is an intergovernmental agency that provides support to countries in the energy transition. With a global membership of 170, IRENA also serves as the center for international coordination and policy development on global energy system.
