U.S. BROKERS IRENA HEADQUARTERS AGREEMENT

UNCLAS CAIRO 001431

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ENRG KGHG SENV PGOV PREL EG GM AU TC
SUBJECT: U.S. BROKERS IRENA HEADQUARTERS AGREEMENT

REF: A. STATE 059969

B. STATE 061286


1. (SBU) KEY POINTS

--The United States signed the Statute of the International
Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) during a ceremony at the
second Preparatory Commission in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, on
Monday, June 29. By the end of the conference, 136 States had
joined the Preparatory Commission of IRENA.

--The United States brokered a deal by which Germany and
Austria withdrew their candidacies to host the IRENA
headquarters. In return, the parties agreed that an
innovation center would be established in Bonn, and a liaison
office be established in Vienna. The UAE will be the site of
the IRENA Secretariat Headquarters.

--Hlne Pelosse, the French Deputy Head of Staff in Charge
of International Affairs in the Private Office of the
Minister of State, was elected as Interim Director General of
IRENA.

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BACKGROUND
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2. (U) The Second Session of the Preparatory Commission for
the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) was held
June 29-30, 2009, in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. The U.S.
delegation was led by OES Acting A/S Reno Harnish and
included EEB DAS Douglas Hengel and OES/EGC Griff Thompson.
The purpose of the conference was to elect an Interim
Director General (DG),designate an interim seat for the
Secretariat Headquarters (HQ),determine IRENA's interim work
program, and decide on IRENA's interim financial and staff
regulations. Abu Dhabi, Bonn, and Vienna offered their
candidacies to host the IRENA Secretariat. France, Spain,
Greece, and Denmark nominated candidates for the Interim DG
position. Egypt's Minister of Electricity and Energy, Dr.
Hassan Younes, chaired the conference.


3. (SBU) COMMENT: The DG, secretariat location, work program,
and financial and staff regulations will remain "interim"
until formally adopted by the first session of the IRENA
Assembly after the IRENA Statute comes into force once
ratified by 25 countries. END COMMENT.

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ADMINISTRATIVE COMMITTEE DISCUSSES WORK PLAN
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4. (U) Prior to the opening of the session, the
Administration Committee, chaired by Germany, held a closed
meeting to discuss general administrative issues. Ambassador
Harnish said IRENA should be a financially lean and efficient
organization that focuses on capacity building and training
for developing countries, and avoids programs that overlap
with existing international organizations. Japan and France
also raised concerns about IRENA's funding and echoed the
USG preference for a lean budget. IRENA's funding will be
modeled on the UN scale of assessment, meaning the USG will
fund 22% of the organization's budget.

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UNITED STATES SIGNS IRENA STATUTE
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5. (U) Ambassador Harnish signed the IRENA statute during a
signing ceremony on the opening day of the Preparatory
Commission. Twenty-two states signed the Statute over the
course of the conference, bringing the total number of
signatories to 136.

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U.S. DELEGATION BROKERS DEAL TO AVOID DIVISIVE VOTE
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6. (SBU) Abu Dhabi, Germany, and Austria had all entered the
conference seeking selection as host fo the IRENA
Secretariat. In a compromise brokered by the U.S.
delegation, Germany and Austria agreed to withdraw their
candidacies and support Abu Dhabi for the headquarters in
exchange for UAE support for establishment of a technology
innovation center in Bonn and an office to liaise with
international organizations in Vienna.


7. (SBU) Germany offered to contribute up to four million
Euros for the establishment of the innovation center, which
would promote innovation and facilitate renewable energy
technology transfer to developing nations, and 2-3 million
Euros annually for its operations. The Government of Austria
will fund the IRENA liaison office in Vienna. The UAE
agreed, under the conditions that the two centers would be
established under the framework of the IRENA Secretariat in
Abu Dhabi (rather than national centers run by the German
and Austrian governments) and that the funding for both the
Bonn and Vienna offices would be in addition to the
respective countries, assessed obligations for IRENA. The
parties prepared a statement and presented it to the Chair to
announce to all member states. Upon announcement of the
agreement, Abu Dhabi was declared the location for the
Interim Secretariat.

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FRENCH CANDIDATE WINS DIRECTOR GENERAL POST
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8. (SBU) The next major order of business was to elect an
Interim DG for IRENA. The governments of France, Spain,
Greece, and Denmark nominated candidates. Following several
rounds of voting, France's Hlne Pelosse narrowly edged out
Spain's Juan M. Ormazabal Jordana, the Director General of
the Spanish National Center of Renewable Energy, to become
IRENA's Interim DG. (COMMENT: The U.S. delegation supported
the Greek candidate in the first round, and then voted for
the Spanish candidate in subsequent voting rounds. END
COMMENT.)

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IRENA ADOPTS INTERIM WORK PROGRAM
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9. (U) The second day of the Preparatory Commission consisted
of determining the work program and financial and staff
regulations. Work groups met to discuss Member States'
proposals for amending the work program and financial and
staff regulations. The U.S. delegation presented a non-paper
on U.S. views regarding IRENA's interim work program. The
USG held the view that the strategic objective of IRENA
should be to build capacity for developing country public
policy makers to understand the policy, regulatory, and
institutional requirements to facilitate growth in renewable
energy adoption in their countries. The U.S. delegation was
successful in narrowing the scope of IRENA's work plan as
well as directing the DG to establish a series of performance
metrics to be used to evaluate IRENA's performance both
regarding internal operations and external projects. Japan
led the charge on IRENA's fiscal discipline and emphasized
the need for accountability and cost efficiency. Denmark and
others provided more troubling input by focusing on the role
of Bonn, which negatively brought back North-South tensions
regarding the role of developed countries in promoting
renewable energy in the developing world. In the end, the
Preparatory Commission agreed on a set of amendments to the
work program and financial and staff regulations.

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NEXT STEPS
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10. (U) The IRENA Secretariat HQ in the UAE will be housed in
Masdar City (about 15 miles from Abu Dhabi),which upon
completion in 2011 will be the world's first carbon-neutral,
zero-waste city. The UAE will host the next session of
IRENA's Preparatory Commission in January 2010. Ambassador
Harnish invited the new DG Hlne Pelosse to visit Washington
in the near future to discuss IRENA,s work.


11. OES Acting A/S Reno Harnish cleared this telegram.
Tueller