NETHERLANDS/WIREC: TIMMERMANS TO LEAD DUTCH

UNCLAS THE HAGUE 000183 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR EUR/WE (TSMITH),OES/PCI (SSPECHT, CHILL) USDOC FOR 4212/USFS/MAC/EURA/OWE/DCALVERT WHITE HOUSE FOR NSC AND CEQ E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KSCA KPAO ENRG SENV TRGY EPET EAID SOCI KGHG NL SUBJECT: NETHERLANDS/WIREC: TIMMERMANS TO LEAD DUTCH DELEGATION REF: A. STATE 15566 ¶B. HEUNG-SPECHT EMAIL 20 FEB 08 ¶C. HEUNG-SMITH EMAIL 20 FEB 08 ¶D. THE HAGUE 38 ¶E. 07 THE HAGUE 1966 ¶F. 07 THE HAGUE 1897 THIS MESSAGE IS SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED. PLEASE HANDLE ACCORDINGLY. ¶1. (U) In separate discussions February 20, Dutch officials Femke Smeets, Policy Officer, Directorate for Foreign Economic Relations, Ministry of Economic Affairs (MEA),and Femke Hoogeveen, Senior Policy Officer, Economic and Ecological Cooperation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), told Econoff that the Dutch planned to send the following delegation to the March 4-6 Washington International Renewable Energy Conference (WIREC): -- Frans Timmermans, Minister for European Affairs, MFA (Delegation Head) -- Marjanne de Kwaasteniet, Deputy Director General for European Cooperation and Director for Economic and Ecological Cooperation, MFA -- (TBD) Policy Officer, Directorate for International Cooperation, MFA -- Eric Eijkeberg, Deputy Director for Energy and Sustainability, MEA -- Willem van der Heul, Coordinator for Sustainable Energy, MEA -- Ron van Erk, Policy Officer, MEA ¶2. (U) Hoogeveen said the Dutch Embassy in Washington would register the delegation in accordance with procedures specified in ref A. Post also forwarded this information via email on February 20 to OES/PCI Stan Specht and EUR Netherlands Desk Officer Tim Smith (refs B and C). See refs D-F for past reporting on Dutch WIREC participation. ¶3. (SBU) In a follow-up conversation February 25, Hoogeveen told Econoff that Timmermans and the Dutch delegation planned to arrive in Washington on March 3. She said the Dutch Embassy planned to host a roundtable dinner that evening on transatlantic relations and separate from WIREC. She expected the Embassy to extend invitations to a representative from both the State Department and Commerce. ¶4. (SBU) Hoogeveen said the delegation had scheduled a breakfast meeting on March 4 with Senate Foreign Relations Committee Staff Director Antony Blinken before proceeding to the WIREC event. She confirmed that Timmermans was also seeking meetings with Under Secretary Paula Dobrianksy and Department of Energy experts on the margins on WIREC. She said the Dutch Embassy in Washington would contact the State Department and Department of Energy directly for assistance in arranging these meetings. Schofer