Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
NEW DELHI (AP) — The World Bank president said Thursday that India had shown resilience in the situation created by Britain's decision to exit from the European Union, but it will be affected "if there were more events creating more uncertainty."
Jim Yong Kim told reporters that the British decision has caused a shortage of capital for developing nations like India and money was flowing into safe havens like gold and U.S. treasury bills.
Urging countries to embrace multilateralism and multilateral institutions, he said he was a very strong believer in multilateralism, and the European Union was one of the greatest examples of an attempt to achieve that.
"That's my very strong belief as president of the World Bank Group. And so what I hope, is that the European Union will come out of this stronger," he said.
On a visit to India, he met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and signed an agreement with the Indian-led International Solar Alliance to boost solar energy in developing countries by mobilizing $1 trillion in investments by 2030.
A statement by the group said the agreement established the World Bank as a financial partner of the alliance. The agreement was signed by Kim and Indian Power Minister Piyush Goyal.
The alliance was launched by India and France at the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Paris last November and includes about 120 countries that support the promotion of solar energy.
As part of the agreement, the World Bank will work with other multilateral development banks and financial institutions to develop financing for solar energy development, the World Bank said.
In addition, it plans to provide more than $1 billion to support India's initiatives to expand solar power generation through projects including solar rooftop technology, infrastructure for solar parks and transmission lines for solar-rich states, it said.
"India's plans to virtually triple the share of renewable energy by 2030 will both transform the country's energy supply and have far-reaching global implications in the fight against climate change," Kim said in a statement.
Also Thursday, the World Bank and the Indian government signed an agreement for a $625 million loan to finance the installation of at least 400 MW of solar panels that will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions by displacing thermal generation.
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
