The decision was announced shortly after the start of the fourth IRENA preparatory commission meeting which began on Sunday in Abu Dhabi. Amin will serve in the position until the body’s first assembly meeting in 2011.
“My priority will be to put IRENA on a firm institutional footing and to develop a compelling vision for the future of renewable energy worldwide,” Amin said.
Pelosse abruptly resigned from the position last week, after just 15 months on the job, and amid widespread reports that the organization, which was founded in January 2009, was experiencing profound financial difficulties.
In his introductory remarks Spanish Ambassador Rafael Conde de Saro, Chair of the Preparatory Commission, thanked Pelosse for “the hard work she has put in setting up the agency”.
Amin, 53, a married father of three, was selected in August as Deputy Interim Director-General of IRENA. Adnan Amin served as the Director of the UN System Chief Executives Board for Coordination (CEB).
Prior to this, he served as the Executive Director of the Secretariat of the Secretary-General's High Level Panel on UN System-wide Coherence. He also served for several years as the Director of the New York Office of UNEP and Special Representative of the UNEP Executive Director.
In those roles, Amin was responsible for environment policy coordination, inter-agency coordination and collaboration with other UN agencies and for outreach to civil society and the private sector.
He also played the lead role in supporting the intergovernmental process to review International Environmental Governance and in the United Nations Environment Programme's participation in the World Summit on Sustainable Development.
In other IRENA news, the UAE on Monday signed the agreement for the organization’s interim headquarters in Abu Dhabi.
Dr. Abdul Rahim Al Awadi, Assistant UAE Foreign Minister for Legal Affairs, said the conclusion of the agreement demonstrates the UAE’s commitment to render the IRENA mission a success as this agreement forms another cornerstone in building the structure of IRENA headquartered in Abu Dhabi.
The agreement, he added, will empower IRENA with the legal basis to enjoy privileges and immunities needed to assume its functions.
The agreement is the first ever signed by a country in the region to host the headquarters of an international organisation.
The UAE government plans to relocate the agency’s headquarters to Masdar, a $22 billion city outside Abu Dhabi that it says will have zero carbon emissions and is scheduled for completion in 2015.
According to IRENA’s website, the organization is dedicated to “facilitating the rapid development and deployment of renewable energy worldwide”.
The agency currently has 149 members, including 148 countries and the European Union. To date, 42 countries have ratified its treaty.
For additional information:
International Renewable Energy Agency
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