Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio has expressed appreciation over the launch of the new Accelerated Partnership for Renewables in Africa (APRA).

He maintained that, as the world moves away from fossil fuels, Africa must find the balance between the natural resources and a sustainable future, adding that, Africa has an abundance of clean, renewable energy resources which must be used for future prosperity.

He maintained that to unlock this priority, Africa needs unfettered access to climate financing to transition to green growth, and the endeavors toward a sustainable future should be hinged on fair and just collaboration and partnerships.

“The APRA initiative echoes our collective aspirations for scaled-up actions to transform our energy sectors and lead the green economy revolution. It also demonstrates our strong belief in climate-positive growth, leveraging our enormous endowments of natural resources, especially critical minerals and youthful populations, to achieve ggrindustrialization

We know the rest of the world needs our critical minerals to fast-track their emission reductions. Africa’s vision is to produce batteries, solar panels, windmills, and other green technologies and components in manufacturing plants domiciled on the Continent.

We are convinced that we will achieve our national ambitions and the continental vision of the one African energy market with our partners in the APRA initiative by 2063.

Sierra Leone fully supports the APRA initiative and welcomes strategic partnerships to harness our untapped renewable energy potential to significantly increase the share of renewable energy generation in our national energy mix by 2030 and the share of the off-grid population served by mini-grid and stand-alone solar home systems” he stated.