Glasgow/New Delhi, Nov 2 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch two major initiatives jointly with UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday at the COP26 in Glasgow – the Infrastructure for Resilient Island States (IRIS) and the solar Green Grids Initiative-One Sun One World One Grid (OSOWOG), besides holding bilateral meetings with several world leaders.
His bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the COP26 would be with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, with Nepalese Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, besides with the leaders of Switzerland, Finland, Malawi, Ukraine and Argentina and also with Microsoft founder Bill Gates.
Day 2 of COP26 will begin with a photo-op of the leaders in the morning.
This will be followed by the launch of the Infrastructure for Resilient Island States (IRIS), a joint effort between India and the UK. Both Prime Minister Modi and UK PM Johnson would launch it. Australian PM Scott Morrison will also participate, as Canberra is also a partner of the initiative.
PMs Modi and Johnson will launch another initiative, the Green Grids Initiative-One Sun One World One Grid (OSOWOG).
Green Grids Initiative is a UK initiative, while One World-One Sun-One Grid is an initiative of the International Solar Alliance (ISA). The OSOWOG is a global solar grid linking 140 countries.
This event will see the participation of US President Joe Biden, the UAE Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, and the President of Kenya Uhuru Kenyatta.
Both the initiatives are important global initiatives, by India along with its partners, to get more capacity building, more support to countries, especially developing countries across the world, said Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said at a briefing on Monday.
PM Modi will participate in another initiative hosted by US President Biden on development – Build Back Better, “which is also linked to development of resilient infrastructure, and in some ways dovetails into what we are doing,” he said.
The Prime Minister will depart at the conclusion of the high-level segment of the COP26.
However, India’s negotiating team which is in Glasgow, the Union Minister for Environment Bhupender Yadav, along with his team comprising the Secretary in the Environment Ministry, and other members, will remain in Glasgow to participate in the COP26 negotiations till the conclusion of the event on November 12, said Shringla.
The IRIS is part of the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI), an initiative of India, and it focuses on building capacity, building pilot projects, in small island developing states. It would also involve the setting up of norms and standards for resilient infrastructure, Shringla said.
The IRIS is an important initiative as small island states and coastal areas are very susceptible to the ravages of climate change.
