World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi is one of the global drivers of renewable energy development around the globe in pursuit of environmental sustainability, Dato' Sri Mohd Najib bin Abdul Razak, Prime Minister of Malaysia said on Monday. He said the World Future Energy Summit will play a significant role, alongside Copenhagen, in accelerating the uptake of renewable, the future of the energy sector. He will be one of the speakers the Plenary Welcome Session that will open the World Future Energy Summit for the third year on Jany. 18-21, 2010. Other speakers in the session will include President Karolos Papoulias, President, Greece; Mohamed Nasheed, President, Maldives; The Crown Prince Felipe de Borb?n y Grecia, Spain and The Crown Prince Frederik André Henrik Christian, Denmark. Razak, commenting on the challenges surrounding the adoption of renewable energy sources, said “each and every one of us has a role to play in driving the swift adoption of renewable energy. For a developing country like Malaysia, the cost of renewable energy generation is still high and is not economically viable because generating a return of investment takes a long time. It is therefore not easy to convince businesses to consider power generation from renewable resources as an attractive business opportunity.” “Hence why, to jumpstart the development of renewable energy, introducing the right policy support and providing an environment that is conducive is a vital issue that governments must address and Malaysia is working actively towards that. However, it must also be said that this responsibility must be complemented by other stakeholders such as the private sector, industry, banking communities including the general public,” he pointed out. The Malaysian government has played an instrumental role in promoting the use of renewable energy having included fiscal incentives in the annual budgets since 2001. The strategy adopted for the growth of renewables in the country is focused towards market forces delivering the intended outcomes. Malaysia has successfully attracted more than $3 billion in foreign direct investment in the solar PV manufacturing industry and is poised to become a solar PV manufacturing hub. Mohd Najib added that the World Future Energy Summit will play a significant role alongside Copenhagen, as renewable energy is the future. The World Future Energy Summit will continue to be one of the global drivers that will accelerate the uptake of renewable energy development in our pursuit of environmental sustainability for the sake of the future generation.” __
