GERMAN MINISTERS TO ATTEND WIREC, MAY USE OCCASION

UNCLAS BERLIN 000218 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR OES STAN SPECHT, CAMILLE HILL E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ENRG SENV TRGY GM SUBJECT: GERMAN MINISTERS TO ATTEND WIREC, MAY USE OCCASION TO LOBBY FOR IRENA REF: A. A. STATE 15566 ¶B. B. STATE 521 ¶C. C. MEGILL-SPECHT EMAIL 02/22/2008 ¶1. (SBU) Summary: German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel and Economic Cooperation and Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul will attend the March 4-6 Washington International Renewable Energy Conference. The rest of the German delegation has registered online. The Germans may use WIREC as a platform to lobby for the establishment of an International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). ¶2. (SBU) Embassy Berlin transmitted WIREC invitation letters from Secretary Rice on January 7 to Gabriel, Wieczorek-Zeul, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Economics and Technology Minister Michael Glos, Agriculture Minister Horst Seehofer and Federal Chancellery Infrastructure Policy Director Peter Roesgen. Embassy Berlin also transmitted several panelist invitation letters from Under Secretary for Global Affairs Dobriansky in early January. ¶3. (SBU) After multiple inquiries, the Environment Ministry confirmed to Embassy Berlin on February 19 that both Gabriel and Wieczorek-Zeul will attend WIREC. While Economic Minister Glos conveyed his regrets on February 13, the Embassy has not received formal replies from other ministries. German Agriculture Ministry officials expressed frustration to FAS that the Environment Ministry was not including them in WIREC preparations. The Agriculture Ministry is interested in participating in WIREC, but due to internal German government concerns they will not attend (NOTE: Environment Ministry officials have deflected questions on this matter. END NOTE). Environment Ministry contacts reported that individual delegation members have been registered on the WIREC website and that they have received confirmation emails from Washington. The Environment Ministry provided the complete list of German delegation members to the Embassy on February 22, which we subsequently passed to OES (ref C). Environment Ministry contacts were unable to confirm that all registered individuals will in fact attend WIREC. ¶4. (SBU) Jan Jost, Project Manager for North American Affairs at the Federation of German Industries (BDI) told ECONOFF February 6 that BDI members were disappointed that invitations to the WIREC business conference side event had "not gone to the appropriate individuals". Per guidance received from OES, ECONOFF conveyed contact information for the ACORE President along with a request for suggestions of invitees to the senior stakeholder contingent to BDI. No additional suggestions from BDI were transmitted. ¶5. (SBU) On February 12, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs hosted an informational briefing for the diplomatic corps on their proposal for an International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). IRENA will bring together experts to promote and finance the transfer of renewable energies to developing countries. Environment Ministry State Secretary Matthias Machnig said it was no longer a question of whether to launch IRENA but how. The Germans will host an April 10-11 conference in Berlin on the logistics of setting up such an agency. They plan to have a follow up conference in October 2008 and then found "centers of excellence" in 2009. We expect the German delegation will use WIREC as a platform to solicit support for IRENA. TIMKEN JR