The First Minister Alex Salmond will travel to the Middle East next week to sign a ground-breaking deal on renewables.

Mr Salmond will sign Scotland up to a landmark agreement to develop tangible green energy products with the world's leading innovator, Masdar, based in Abu Dhabi.

The deal to be signed next Tuesday (January 17) comes only six weeks after the First Minister first met with the company's CEO Dr Sultan Al Jaber and toured its 'city in the desert' facility to witness the world leading work taking place there.

The First Minister said: "It is clear that the work Masdar is taking forward on leading us to a low carbon society is in perfect synchronisation with the work we are doing here in Scotland. This is the first agreement of its kind between Masdar and an individual nation and will work towards developing further university research into renewable energy.

"This landmark deal rightly puts Scotland firmly at the forefront of the green energy revolution and I look forward to this relationship between Scotland and Masdar growing and delivering for all our global futures."

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At the time of the First Minister's visit, Dr Al Jaber said: "Masdar is pleased to partner with Scotland on a number of upcoming renewable energy initiatives. We discussed a number of areas of collaboration and I look forward to working closely with him over the coming months to move these ideas forward.

"Scotland is a leading player in the renewable energy field and we are delighted to combine our knowledge and experience through this mutual and beneficial partnership."

Leading the way on the work at the Scottish end will be the Energy Technology Partnership, an alliance of 12 Scottish universities already engaged in energy research. With around 250 academics and 600 researchers, the ETP is the largest, most broad based power and energy research partnership in Europe.

During his two-day visit, the First Minister will also address an audience of world leaders when he attends the World Future Energy Summit as a guest of Masdar. Other prominent speakers will include UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and Premier Wen of China.

The summit - from January 16 to January 19 and now in its fifth year - is an annual gathering of world leaders and thinkers committed to promoting advancement in renewable energy and attracts more than 26,000 attendees. This year it is being viewed as a valuable lead-in conference to the deal-making Climate Summit in Rio de Janerio in June.

The First Minister's recent visit to the Middle East is also expected to result in further deals, including developments on additional direct air routes by Middle Eastern airlines into and out of Scotland. An announcement on the success of talks between the Scottish Government and a prominent air carrier is expected imminently.

(GK)