Switzerland will become a member of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). Federal Councillor Moritz Leuenberger, Director of the Swiss Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications, will sign the Agency's Statute tomorrow (27 May) at the Federal Foreign Office in the presence of Federal Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel and State Secretary Heinrich Tiemann. Germany is the depositary State of the IRENA Statute.

The International Renewable Energy Agency was founded in Bonn on 26 January 2009. Along with Spain and Denmark, Germany was a driving force behind its establishment. Together with the Federal Ministry for the Environment (BMU) and the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the Federal Foreign Office has campaigned for IRENA and helped secure the necessary international support by dispatching special envoys and launching a global demarche effort.