UAE SUPPORTS US IRENA OBJECTIVES

UNCLAS ABU DHABI 000599 SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPARTMMENT FOR NEA/ARP DEPARTMENT FOR EEB/ESC/IEC/ENR (MONOSSON, SECOR),OES/EGC (THOMPSON) AND IO/EDA (WEBBER) AMMAN FOR ESTH HUB (BHALLA) E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ENRG SENV KGHG AE SUBJECT: UAE SUPPORTS US IRENA OBJECTIVES REF: STATE 59969 ¶1. (SBU) On June 14, EconOff delivered reftel talking points on US membership in IRENA to Masdar CEO Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, who welcomed US intentions to join IRENA and expressed hope that the US would participate in the headquarters' vote. He said he would appreciate US lobbying in support of the UAE bid to host the IRENA HQ. Al Jaber said that capacity building is very high on the UAE agenda and that the UAE supports US objectives outlined in reftel. ¶2. (SBU) Al Jaber asked Masdar's Serene Serhan to provide specific answers to reftel points. Serhan told EconOff that the UAE is very interested in building human capacity in the developing world, hence the establishment of a $50 million development fund to nurture renewable energy in developing countries. The Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD) would administer this funding, although applications would be managed by IRENA. The UAE also offers scholarships for non-nationals at the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology (MIST),which will help also help create a ripple effect in the developing world. ¶3. (SBU) Serhan said that the UAE is committed to hosting every IRENA member, including Israel, if it is selected to host the headquarters. The UAE hopes IRENA will be a well-rounded organization with representatives from the developed and developing world. She added that US and other major countries' membership is extremely important to IRENA's success. The UAE intends to ratify the IRENA Statute in advance of the June 28-30 IRENA meeting in Sharm El Sheikh. HQ AND DG -------------- ¶4. (SBU) Serhan said the UAE believes it has the support of more than 50 percent of IRENA members. She provided the following list (please protect) of priority countries that the USG could lobby to support the UAE's HQ bid: Cambodia, Estonia, Honduras, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Monaco, Romania, Serbia, and Turkey. Serhan said the UAE had not "100 percent" decided who to support for DG, although it has had talks with France and Spain. OLSON