Palau, an archipelago of over 500 islands in Ocea, on Tuesday became the 76th signatory country to join the International Solar Alliance.
"President of the Republic of Palau H.E. Tommy E. Remengesau, Jr. signed the Framework Agreement of the Int'l Solar Alliance today at @IndiaUNNewYork. #Palau becomes the 76th signatory country. Indian Embassy, Mla is working towards taking India-Palau ties to new heights," Nagaraj Naidu, the Deputy Permanent Representative at India's Mission to the United Nations, wrote on Twitter.
Countries which have signed the agreement until now include India, France, Australia, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, Japan, amongst others. The agreement was opened for signature during the COP22 at Marrakech on November 15, 2016.
The International Solar Alliance is a group of 121 solar resource-rich countries with headquarters in Gurugram, India. The orgsation aims to deploy over 1,000 gigawatts of solar energy and mobilise more than USD 1,000 billion into solar power by 2030, according to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
Reiterating the same, India's Permanent Representative to the UN, Syed Akbaruddin tweeted, "Thanks Prez @TommyRemengesau for signing @IndiaUNNewYork the Framework Agreement Document of the International Solar Alliance today, thus making Palau the 76th member of this growing family.
The envoy captioned the post as "International Solar Alliance is growing".
Last year in November, the Centre gave ex-post facto approval for moving a resolution in the first assembly of the International Solar Alliance for amending its Framework Agreement to enable membership for all member countries of the UN.
The meeting was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Inclusion of the UN members to the Alliance will put solar energy in global agenda with the universal appeal for developing and deploying solar energy, as per the government press release.
According to the release, expanding the membership will lead to ISA initiative benefitting the world at large.
( With inputs from ANI )