UAE REQUEST TO HOST IRENA HEADQUARTERS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ABU DHABI 000199

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DEPARTMMENT FOR NEA/ARP
DEPARTMENT FOR EEB/ESC/IEC/ENR (MONOSSON, SECOR, THOMPSON)
AMMAN FOR ESTH HUB (BHALLA)

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SENV ECON PREL PARM RS IR AE
SUBJECT: UAE REQUEST TO HOST IRENA HEADQUARTERS

REFS: A) Abu Dhabi 170
B) 2/5/09 Monosson-Cooper e-mail
C) Abu Dhabi 6
D) 08 State 134385


1. (SBU) On February 19, post received a diplomatic note reiterating
the UAE's desire and qualifications to host the headquarters of the
International Agency for Renewable Energy (IRENA, first reported in
Ref A). Post's informal translation of the diplomatic note
follows.


2. (SBU) Further demonstrating the UAE's interest, the CEO of Masdar
(The Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company, www.masdar.ae),wrote to UAE
Ambassador to Washington Yousif Al Otaiba to urge Al Otaiba to seek
support from key USG contacts and other IRENA signatory country
officials. The letter (which has been emailed to NEA/ARP) includes
additional arguments not included in the MFA diplomatic note.


3. (SBU) Begin Text of Diplomatic Note:

United Arab Emirates
Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Date: February 19, 2009

No. 1647

Circular Number 37

The UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs presents it compliments to
all embassies and consulates accredited to the United Arab
Emirates.

With reference to the United Arab Emirates request to host the
International Agency for Renewable Energy (IRENA) headquarters, we
have the pleasure to attach herewith a paper clarifying the United
Arab Emirates' reasons and factors for hosting IRENA's headquarters
in the city of Abu Dhabi.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs appreciates support from
friendly and brotherly countries in this regard.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs avails itself of this
opportunity to renew to all embassies and consulates accredited to
the UAE the assurances of its highest considerations.

To all embassies and consulates accredited to the UAE

End text.


4. (SBU) Begin Attachment Text:

UAE Request to Host the International Agency for Renewable Energy
(IRENA) Headquarters

The International Agency for Renewable Energy (IRENA) was
established on January 26, 2009 at the founding conference, which
held in Bonn, Germany. During this conference, 75 countries signed
the Agency's statute, and the UAE has signed the statute as a
founder member of the new agency.

At the conference, UAE Foreign Minister H.H. Sheikh Abdullah Bin
Zayed Al Nahyan announced the UAE's support for the establishment of
IRENA, which will provide support and advice to supporting countries
regarding improving renewable energy technologies. Sheikh Abdullah
also announced the UAE's desire to host IRENA's headquarters in the
city of Abu Dhabi. An official request in this regard has been
submitted to the head of the committee concerned with reviewing
countries' requests to host the headquarters.

The International Agency for Renewable Energy (IRENA)

IRENA will be the first international organization focused on
renewable energy and will provide support to countries in order to
pave the way for sustained renewable energy usage. It will also
research current renewable energy uses and seek possibilities to
expand its scope. IRENA will study all available technology and
investment tools for using renewable energy, including gathering
data and information through consultation with international
academics and experts in this field.

IRENA consists of three main bodies:

General Assembly:

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The General Assembly consists of all member countries and is
considered the supreme body to ratify all resolutions.

Executive Council:
The General Assembly elects not less than 11 and not more than 21
members from Agency member countries to form the Executive Council.
The responsibilities of the Executive Council are to facilitate
consultations and cooperation among members and to put in place work
program details approved by the General Assembly.

General Secretariat:
The General Secretariat will undertake program implementation and
will be headed by a director general to be nominated by the General
Assembly.

The General Secretariat's budget will by financed by contributions
from member countries. The value of contributions will be calculated
on the United Nations quotas table.

The Merits of the UAE as Host

-- The UAE would be the ideal location for the IRENA headquarters
given its geographical location between East and West.

-- The UAE has international-level infrastructure that provides all
necessary services, international transportation system, and its
international airports and airlines reach most countries of the
world.

-- The UAE has the best infrastructure for telecommunication,
internet and satellite communications.

-- Many international organizations, including UN regional offices
and affiliated organizations, have their headquarters in the UAE,
and are practicing their business easily and in accordance with "The
Headquarter Agreement", and concluded agreements of "Privilege and
Immunity."

-- Since its establishment in 1971, the UAE has enjoyed a great
record in preserving the environment. The UAE developed
environmental institutions, legislation and regulations to achieve
sustainable development. In addition, the UAE has signed the
relevant international agreements, joined international
organizations and participated with the international community in
this field. The UAE also introduced the Sheikh Zayed International
Prize for Environment, the biggest and most valuable environmental
prize in the world, valued at approximately one million U.S.
dollars.

-- The pioneering policy of the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al
Nahayan to stop the flaring natural gas associated with oil
exploration in 1970 was the first of its kind among the oil
producing countries. This policy proved the UAE's commitment to
preserve the environment.

-- The UAE (Abu Dhabi Emirate) has committed itself to allocate 7
percent target of its total energy generation capacity from
renewable energy by 2020. This proves that the UAE is still planning
to reduce its future oil dependency, although it is an oil producing
country and a member of OPEC.

-- MASDAR City, the first zero-carbon, zero-waste city in the world
totally dependent on renewable energy, was established in Abu Dhabi.
MASDAR will be a model for cities around the world striving for
sustainability and will attract major business deals, academics,
pioneers and advocates of this sector. The population of MASDAR City
is expected to reach 90,000 daily inhabitants. MASDAR will test the
boundaries of current and future thinking in sustainable design. It
will find low cost renewable energy technologies that can be rolled
out on a large scale to provide the world with safe and clean
power.

-- The Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (MASDAR) is working with many
international partners to develop renewable energy. It created a
joint venture project in Spain (Torresol) to build three solar power
plants by 2012. A manufacturing plant for photovoltaic panels has
been established in Germany to develop the next generation of
thin-film photovoltaic solar panels.

-- MASDAR Institute of Science and Technology (MIST) is the first
academic research institute entirely focused on renewable energy. It
is open to students from every corner of the world, and MIST will be
a platform to transfer renewable energy science and technology.


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-- The Zayed Future Energy Prize, the first international prize of
sustainable energy, was announced during the World Energy Summit in
January 2008. The prize was awarded in 2008 to Mr. Dipal Chandra
Barua, Founding Managing Director of Grameen Shakti, for his efforts
to provide rural citizens of Bangladesh with renewable energy
solutions, and Dr. Martin Green an expert researcher in the field of
photovoltaic technology.

-- The UAE (Abu Dhabi) is working to establish the world's largest
Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS). Network. This technology will
lead to tremendous drop in the percentage of carbon and to positive
boom of environmental impression in the UAE. The project will prove
the importance of CCS as a basis to reduce carbon footprints from
industry.

The UAE is preparing its offer to host the IRENA's headquarters in
Abu Dhabi city, which will be submitted on April 30 to the committee
constituted to receive applications from countries interesting in
hosting IRENA's headquarters. Voting will take place during the
IRENA's second conference for member countries in June 2009 in
Egypt.
End text of attachment.
Olson