Dr. Sultan Al Jaber Speech
Your Highnesses, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen
It gives me great pleasure to be among so many distinguished guests and to be part of a festival that has promoted cultural exchange and dialogue since 1978.
For 32 years the Assilah International Cultural Festival has been fully dedicated to the arts. This year, it opens its doors to recognize and embrace the importance of renewable energy.
The United Arab Emirates is recognized for its rich energy resources and leadership in the sector.
Similar to how our art, music and heritage define our culture and define who we are—so does our energy expertise and abundance.
Today, energy is an important part of our culture. It has allowed our nation to thrive and our culture to flourish.
In ensuring that we preserve, not only a principal element of our culture, but also our leadership position in the energy industry, we are aggressively pursuing the next generation of clean energy technologies.
Renewable energy, such as solar and wind, has the potential to ensure the sustainability of our economy and of our society.
But most importantly, it is one of the critical solutions to mitigating the global threats of climate change.
The United Arab Emirates has already taken several steps towards actively pursuing renewable energy and addressing these threats, which include:
- The inception of the Masdar Initiative and the launch of the World Future Energy Summit and the Zayed Future Energy Prize
- Our commitment to host and support the establishment of the International Renewable Energy Agency, IRENA
- Our 7 percent renewable energy target by 2020
- Our association with the Copenhagen Accord this past February, and
- The establishment of a dedicated Directorate of Energy and Climate Change within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
These steps are a testament to the foresight of our leadership and their unwavering dedication to advancing clean technologies.
However, our efforts alone will not be enough to tackle the challenges that lie ahead of us.
With the world’s population growing to 9 billion by 2050…
Energy demand doubling…
CO2 emissions rising…
and the planet’s temperature increasing…
We must… collectively strive to adopt energy efficiency measures and deploy renewable energy technologies.
Effectively doing so, will require that we collaborate.
That we share knowledge,
And that we exchange ideas….
Collaboration, will support and drive innovation and accelerate the deployment of clean energy technologies.
The Kingdom of Morocco and the United Arab Emirates share the same commitment to addressing the threats of climate change and the same ambition in pursuing renewable energy.
Like the UAE, Morocco has associated itself with the Copenhagen Accord.
Their 9 billion US dollar solar energy initiative, which will deliver 2 GW by 2020, and the 140MW wind facility in Tangiers, are a testament to this ambition.
We can and we should work together.
Learning from each other’s experiences will enable us to overcome some of renewable energy’s biggest hurdles: Cost and Scalability.
Sharing our knowledge and experience will allow us to bring down cost and improve scalability for future projects.
This is essential to effectively achieve our targets in a meaningful and commercially viable way.
I would like to take this opportunity to commend His Excellency Mr. Mohamed Benaissa for his visionary approach and commitment to preserving Assilah, and for extending us the invitation to participate in this Festival.
The Assilah International Cultural Festival has always been about bridging gaps between cultures, the exchange of ideas and the sharing of knowledge.
This year the Festival offers us a platform to bridge the gaps of innovation and knowledge of the renewable energy and clean technology industry.
We must take advantage of this opportunity to learn from each other…and to deliver against the promise of Assilah.
Thank you.
