Foreign Minister and World Bank Managing Director discuss geothermal issues

Foreign Minister, Össur Skarphéðinsson, met with Sri Mulyani Indrawati, Managing Director at the World Bank during her visit to Iceland. MD Sri Mulyani Indrawati is a keynote speaker at the Iceland Geothermal Conference 2013 which is held in Reykjavik on March 5-8.  The Conference will strive to disseminate knowledge and deepen understanding of the various issues related to geothermal utilization, as well as emphasize the multiple potential related to geothermal utilization. The overall themes of the conference are effective exploration, maximizing the utilization of geothermal energy and the realization of geothermal projects. 

On this occasion the Foreign Minister and MD Mulyani discussed the cooperation between the World Bank Group and Iceland, focusing on geothermal energy, fisheries and the oceans as well as gender equality. A special emphasis was placed on the collaboration between the Iceland and the Bank on promoting the development of geothermal energy in developing countries. The collaboration includes the development of a Global Geothermal Development Plan under the auspices of the World Bank which could amount to 500 million USD. This is the largest initative so far for promoting the utilisation of geothermal energy in developing countries, and has positioned Iceland as the Bank´s key partner in this field.