Ammon News - Infrastructure Minister Silvan Shalom led an Israeli delegation to the International Renewable Energy Agency Fourth Assembly as part of Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week.

Kuwait has pulled out of renewable energy conference in Abu Dhabi to protest Israel's participation even though Jerusalem does not have official ties with the United Arab Emirates, the Kuwait Times reported on Sunday.

The Kuwaiti Ministry of Electricity and Water released a statement on Sunday, indicating that "the decision comes in line with Kuwait's commitment to boycott all forms of interaction with the Zionist regime."

Infrastructure Minister Silvan Shalom led an Israeli delegation to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) Fourth Assembly, held at the St. Regis Hotel on Saadiyat Island on Saturday and Sunday, as part of Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week.

He follows in the footsteps of then-energy and water minister Uzi Landau, who traveled to a similar Abu Dhabi conference on January 16, 2010, and became the first minister to visit the United Arab Emirates. Israeli is one of 123 member-states of IRENA, an intergovernmental organization focused on renewable energy development that is based in Abu Dhabi.

This is the first Israeli delegation visit to the UAE, with which Israel has no diplomatic ties, since the assassination of Hamas operative Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai on January 19, 2010.

While Israel never confirmed or denied involvement in the killing, the Dubai police chief afterward forbade all Israelis from entering the country, even those holding foreign passports.

The Israeli delegation is able to attend the conference because the international organization is based on UAE soil, Shalom’s spokesman stressed.

“If Israel is a full member of IRENA and that takes place in Abu Dhabi, it’s inconceivable that we wouldn’t be able to go to that assembly,” his spokesman said. “At the end of the day we are going there with Israeli passports.”

*jerusalem post