Bilateral Energy Dialogue Date and Venue Change

UNCLAS JAKARTA 002682 SIPDIS DEPT FOR EAP/MTS AND EB/ESC/IEC DEPT PASS OPIC, EXIM, TDA DOE FOR CUTLER/PI-32 AND GILLESPIE/PI-32 COMMERCE FOR 4430/BERLINGUETTE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EPET ENRG EINV PREL ID SUBJECT: Bilateral Energy Dialogue Date and Venue Change REF: Jakarta 1657 (Energy Dialogue Back On Track) ¶1. (SBU) Director General of Oil and Gas Luluk Sumiarso told us on September 20 that he liked the USG proposed agenda for the bilateral Energy Policy Dialogue (EPD). He expressed particular appreciation for the mix of Government-to-Government and Government-to-Business modules. Luluk stressed that he wants his tenure as DG to be noted for his inclusiveness of business and transparency in his dealings with them. ¶2. (SBU) The GOI is not willing, however, to proceed with the 22-25 October time frame, originally proposed by DOE PDAS Kathrine Fredriksen during her June visit to Jakarta. Luluk also stressed that the GOI wishes to host the EPD in Denpasar, rather than Jakarta. We reiterated our desire to have the largest, most comprehensive U.S. delegation possible and said that holding the EPD in Jakarta would promote that goal. We sense their fixation on the Bali venue is due to an edict from the highest levels of government to help the tourism sector in Bali which has been taken a deep plunge in the last few years. ¶3. (SBU) In any event, Luluk said the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources must use a competitive tender process for the contract to manage the conference. For that reason, he said he doubted the GOI would be ready to host the EPD by 22 October. They have counter-proposed the dates of 14-16 November. Luluk had also proposed 29 and 30 November, but we expressed our concern about the proximity to the dates for the UN COP-13 environment conference. We fear that the EPD will get lost in the shuffle of their preparations to receive 10,000 visitors for the UN meeting the following week. ¶4. (SBU) Luluk said he appreciated the suggestion from DOE's Tom Cutler regarding an Aceh event or theme for the EPD. He said he would put this in front of the Minister for his decision and get back to us. With the departure of Edy Hermantoro to a new job, our new working level contact for the EPD is Nita Wartini, Deputy Director of Oil and Gas Cooperation, who struck us as very worthy successor to Edy. HUME