US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said on Monday that the UAE is so well positioned to compete in the 21st century because of its commitment to clean, renewable energy.
Addressing a gathering during her tour of the Masdar City in Abu Dhabi, Clinton also spelt out her satisfaction over the deepening partnership between UAE and the US in the energy sector.
“I am very pleased the United States and the UAE have deepened our partnership on energy in recent months”, Clinton said.
Clinton, who is in the UAE as part of her regional tour, congratulated Abu Dhabi on hosting IRENA.
“This is the first truly international organization to be headquartered in the Middle East and we have high hopes that it will provide a link between developed and developing countries in sustainable energy production”, she said.
The following is the full text of her speech : ” It is such a pleasure for me to be here, I want to thank Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, Special Envoy for Climate Change, UAE and the CEO of Masdar. And Adnan Amin, the new interim Director General of the International Renewable Energy Agency, known as IRENA, which will have its permanent headquarters here in Masdar City. And Dr. Fred Moavenzadeh, the president of the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology and a professor from MIT.
This is a very exciting and important visit for me personally, and I thank His Excellency for those kind words, but the partnership that we have established between the United States and Abu Dhabi around renewable energy and climate change and sustainable development that takes advantage of human capital is one of the most important partnerships for the future that we could be pursuing.
We have a special connection with the Institute because of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, one of our nation’s top universities and because of the Department of Energy. We believe that the work being done here at Masdar has the potential to solve some of the most urgent challenges facing our planet.
How do we develop sustainable energy sources that can power our cities without contributing to climate change? How do we create technologies that are scalable and both use less power and are widely affordable? How do we supply water for drinking and farming in places where fresh water sources are decreasing? How do we achieve economic growth without relying so heavily on fossil fuels, where they are drilling for them, selling them, buying them or burning them?
