Bolivia has signed the framework agreement of the International Solar Alliance (ISA), joining hands with India towards a common goal of sustainability.

The ISA is an Indian initiative that was jointly launched by Prime Minister Modi and former French President Hollande on November 30, 2015, in Paris, on the sidelines of COP21, the UN Climate Conference. On December 6, 2017, ISA became a treaty-based international intergovernmental organization after Guinea ratified the organization’s framework agreement.

With the joining of Bolivia, a total of 74 countries have signed the framework agreement of the ISA. The agreement between Bolivia and ISA was signed during President Ram Nath Kovind’s visit to Bolivia. Bolivia is the second South American country after Argentina to sign the ISA framework agreement. According to a government official, another South American country Paraguay will be soon joining the ISA.

In February 2019, Argentina and Saudi Arabia signed the framework agreement of the ISA.

Recently, ISA and the European Union signed a joint declaration for cooperation on solar energy. The declaration was inked at the 24th conference of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change held in Katowice, Poland.

In November 2018, the Indian government submitted a resolution to the first assembly of the ISA for the amendments in the framework agreement to open ISA membership to all the countries that are members of the United Nations.

Before the resolution, the ISA mandate addressed overcoming the obstacles to deploying solar energy at scale through the improved harmonization and aggregation of demand from solar-rich countries located fully or partially between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn.

Earlier, at the inaugural conference of the ISA held in New Delhi, the Government of India pledged $1.4 billion to fund the development of solar projects in 15 African and South Asian countries that are part of the ISA consortium.

Image credit: Adani Solar