ISA’s Seventh Regional Committee Meeting (RCM) for Asia-Pacific Region Set to Advance Regional Partnership

(Forelines) – The Seventh Regional Committee Meeting (RCM) for the Asia and Pacific Region will be held by the International Solar Alliance (ISA) in Colombo, Sri Lanka, from July 15–17, 2025, according to India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy said in a statement.

In order to promote a coordinated and strategic agenda for scaling solar deployment throughout this vibrant and diversified region, government representatives, technical universities, think tanks, institutional partners, and commercial sector leaders will come together for this significant meeting.

“With the theme ‘Advancing Solar Cooperation Across a Region of Diversity and Opportunity’, the meeting will serve as a confluence of strategic dialogue, knowledge exchange, and action-oriented outcomes to strengthen the APAC region’s leadership in the global solar transition,” stated by India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy in a statement.

The Director General of ISA, Mr. Ashish Khanna, made a statement highlighting the importance of the Asia-Pacific Region in forming the future of renewable energy, “The Asia and the Pacific Region is at the heart of the global energy transition. The Regional Committee Meeting in Colombo is an opportunity to develop practical, investment-ready solutions with the potential to scale across countries and technologies. Whether it is developing regional aggregated solar energy platforms for SIDS, enabling regional interconnections between countries, scaling up Asian institutions for integration of solar and digital innovation, or supporting the growth of new technologies like Green Hydrogen and storage, this meeting will help chart a path towards a solar-powered future, grounded in partnerships and local leadership,” as per the statement.

The Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, the region’s vice president, will chair the RCM, which will provide a forum for combining regional solar priorities with ISA’s developing strategic vision, which is based on its four pillars:

Hub for Catalytic Finance: Extending catalytic and blended finance programs to reduce the risk of solar projects in order to draw on ISA’s achievements in Africa and scale comparable facilities throughout Asia and the Pacific.

Digitalization and the Global Capability Center: Through a hub-and-spoke approach that links STAR Centers, encourages innovation through the SolarX Startup Challenge, and offers specialized technical help across Member Countries, ISA is working to realize its goal of creating a “Silicon Valley for Solar,” added in a statement.

Regional and Country-Level Platforms: To pool regional demand and provide more market access, projects such as the SIDS platform for e-tendering and e-procurement are being expanded.

Roadmap for Technology and Innovation in Policy: Through the adoption of cutting-edge solar technology, supply chain diversification, and the integration of cutting-edge solutions like energy storage and green hydrogen, the Regional Committee Meeting will assist ISA Member Countries. These efforts are based on the ISA–ADB cooperative project on Ecosystem Readiness for Green Hydrogen, which was on display during the Asia Clean Energy Forum (ACEF) 2025 in Manila, Philippines. The Framework for Green Hydrogen Hubs, readiness evaluations for each nation, and strategic roadmaps for Energy Storage Systems and Long Duration Energy Storage (LDES) were among the important reports that ISA published during ACEF. Countries will be able to expedite deployment and scale solutions throughout the region thanks to these tools, which will directly inform the technology paths and policy discussions at the APAC RCM.

During the APAC RCM, additional thematic workshops will examine:

Building a transparent regional e-marketplace specifically for Small Island Developing States with an emphasis on ownership forms, institutional architecture, and regional case studies is the goal of operationalizing the SIDS Solar Platform.

Enhancing Institutional Capacity with the Global Capability Center and STAR Centers: Co-developing digital learning platforms to bridge regional skill gaps and showcasing effective operational models in Bhutan, Papua New Guinea, and Kiribati.

Developing project pipelines and policy pathways for innovative solutions to accelerate green hydrogen, energy storage, and e-mobility, with an emphasis on Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS).

Promoting Regional Interconnections: Investigating new funding options, frameworks for international solar trade, and utilizing regional grid infrastructure to increase solar access and reduce costs.

In order to further solidify ISA’s solar activities and broaden cooperative efforts throughout Asia and the Pacific, the RCM will also involve the negotiation of Partnership Agreements with regional and international organizations as well as Country Partnership Frameworks with a few chosen nations. The creation of new regional STAR Centers will also be discussed during the meeting. These centers will improve technical proficiency, fortify institutional capacity, and assist the region’s long-term solar energy objectives.

This Regional Committee Meeting will be a significant step in strengthening ISA’s regional participation, paving the way for long-term plans, successful initiatives, and lasting partnerships that align with ISA’s Framework Agreement and the broader global climate agenda.

What is the International Solar Alliance

During COP21 in Paris in 2015, France and India established the International Solar Alliance, a global project. There are 123 signatory and member nations. The Alliance collaborates with governments throughout the globe to advance solar energy as a sustainable means of achieving carbon neutrality and enhancing energy security and accessibility.

By 2030, ISA wants to facilitate solar investments and reduce the cost of solar technologies and financing. It promotes the use of solar energy for transportation, agriculture, health, and electricity generation. ISA Member Countries are enacting laws, sharing best practices, establishing standardized standards, and raising money to effect change.

Through this work, ISA has been able to find, create, and test new business models for solar projects; provide governments with Ease of Doing Solar analytics and guidance to help them make their energy laws and policies more solar-friendly; lower costs and combine demand for solar technology from different nations; improve financing accessibility by lowering risks and increasing the sector’s appeal to private investment; and provide solar engineers and energy policymakers with greater access to solar training, data, and insights.

By promoting solar-powered solutions, ISA hopes to improve quality of life, promote sustainable growth, and provide communities throughout the world with clean, dependable, and reasonably priced energy. On December 6, 2017, 15 nations signed and ratified the ISA Framework Agreement, making ISA the first international intergovernmental organization with its headquarters in New Delhi.

In order to implement affordable and revolutionary solar energy solutions, particularly in the LDCs and SIDS, ISA is collaborating with multilateral development banks (MDBs), development financial institutions (DFIs), private and civil society, public sector groups, and other global organizations.

The ISA Regional Committee for Asia and the Pacific Region Meeting

A vice-president from the region chairs the ISA’s regional committees, which meet once a year to evaluate and review the organization’s programmatic support, flagship projects, collaborations, private sector engagements, and regional work plan. Coordination amongst the member countries in the region is a major objective of the regional committee meetings. There are currently 28 Member Countries, 30 Signatory Countries, and 24 Prospective Countries in the Asia and the Pacific Region, making a total of 54 countries involved in ISA operations in the region. A solid basis for developing cooperative solar projects and strengthening multilateral participation is shown in this expanding regional representation.