Össur Skarphéðinsson (middle) signs the agreement

Foreign secretary Össur Skarphéðinsson today signed an agreement between Iceland and the United Nations University’s Geothermal Training Programme, along with energy minister Guðni A. Jóhannesson and Dr. Konrad Osterwalder, the rector of the university. It is an extension of an existing agreement and is valid until 2014.

The UN General Assembly founded the UN University in 1973 with a view to securing the execution of the objectives and basic principles of the UN through research, education and dissemination of knowledge. An international network of 17 education and research institutions around the world comprise the university, with its central operations based out of its head office in Tokyo.

The UN University’s Geothermal Training Programme was launched on 1st March 1979 and was the first educational institution in Iceland to be a part of the UN University network. The first programme was joined by the Fisheries Training Programme and Soil Reclamation Programme in 1998 and 2010 respectively, meaning that three of the university’s institutions are based in Iceland. According to Iceland’s international development cooperation plan for 2012-14, the UN University is one of the four main organisations will be specially supported.

“The Geothermal Training Programme plays an important role, and the school provides specialists from developing countries specialised training in the research and utilisation of geothermal resources. The school’s operation consists of six-month study programmes in Iceland as well as supporting specialists in doctor’s and master’s-level study here in Iceland. Regular workshops in developing countries are also held under the auspices of the university. Since the start, 450 students have studied at the school, and since workshops started to be offered in developing countries, over 500 specialists have participated in them.”

Source and image: Morgunblaðið