SCENESETTER FOR DEPUTY ENERGY SECRETARY PONEMAN'S

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 DOHA 000692 SENSITIVE SIPDIS FROM AMBASSADOR LEBARON FOR DEPUTY SECRETARY PONEMAN E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL ENRG EINV TRGY QA SUBJECT: SCENESETTER FOR DEPUTY ENERGY SECRETARY PONEMAN'S DECEMBER 10 VISIT TO QATAR REF: DOHA 413 ¶1. (SBU) Embassy Doha welcomes your visit to Qatar. We have confirmed a meeting for you with Minister of Energy/Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah bin Hamad Al-Attiyah and have requested meetings with Managing Director of the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) Dr. Hussein Abdullah and Shaykh Abdul Rahman of the Amiri Diwan. We have requested, but not confirmed, a visit to the Qatar Foundation's Science and Technology Park, and U.S. energy companies in Doha have expressed interest in meeting with you over breakfast. It is possible that you will meet the Crown Prince, but that is still far from certain at this time. We strongly encourage you to participate in targeted media events and will be communicating our ideas on that separately. ¶2. (SBU) This cable discusses the three primary subject areas of your visit, taking into account Embassy Doha's interagency goals and DoE's expressed goals for the trip. We begin with science & technology, followed by Critical Energy Infrastructure and end with investment flows. Our recommended areas for discussion with the Qataris are as follows: -- USG interest in technical cooperation on clean and renewable energy sources. -- Specifically, we encourage you to mention, favorably, the Qatar National Food Security Program's desire to develop new technologies aimed at generating electricity from solar power on an industrial scale in order to fuel large scale desalinization for agricultural irrigation. These technologies, in turn, could be shared with developing countries around the globe. -- You should express our willingness to assist Qatar in fulfilling its CEIP requirements at the appropriate time and give concrete examples of the kind of assistance DOE could provide if called upon. -- You should tell your Qatari interlocutors that the U.S. government welcomes Qatari investment and that the Administration will work cooperatively to make such investment as painless as possible. SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY -------------- ¶3. (SBU) One of the most promising areas for cooperation with Qatar among the themes addressed in the President's June Cairo speech is partnership in science and technology (reftel). The Qatar Science and Technology Park (QSTP),part of Qatar Foundation, has 22 high-profile tenants, including major U.S. firms such as ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, GE and Microsoft. QSTP's goal is to foster industry-university collaboration at Qatar's Education City and it is focused on promoting research, commercialization, and technology/knowledge-transfer to Qatar from these firms in four areas: energy, environment, health care, and information/communication technology. (More information is available at: www.qstp.org.qa) ¶4. (SBU) QSTP prides itself on creating synergies and building cooperation across firms, like GE and ExxonMobil, that might not ordinarily work together on joint projects. Research into solar and other alternative energies is a primary focus, since Qatar's leadership recognizes that hydrocarbons are an exhaustible resource. ¶5. (SBU) One area that is especially ripe for cooperation is the use of solar energy to promote food security. QSTP and the Ministry of Energy, which heads a Qatari interagency renewable energy committee probably will play major roles in Qatar's food security efforts. The Government of Qatar is increasingly keen to promote food security in Qatar and the broader Middle East region. ¶6. (SBU) Fahad Al-Attiyah, who heads Qatar's National Food Security Program under a mandate from the Crown Prince, has support from senior levels of the Qatari leadership for his work. Promoting his efforts complements USG goals across the region and beyond, and our cooperation with Qatar in this area could pay rich dividends. Fahad Al-Attiyah has invited Secretary Clinton to participate in a major global conference in March on Food Security for the Arab World. CRITICAL ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE -------------- DOHA 00000692 002 OF 002 ¶7. (SBU) The Crown Prince has overall responsibility for Qatar's Critical Infrastructure Protection needs. For some time, the USG has sought to undertake assessments in this area. Our offers to send technical teams -- including one made by Secretary Bodman to Minister Al-Attiyah in 2008 -- have been spurned. Qatar Petroleum (QP) officials, who report to Minister Al-Attiyah and have responsibility for these issues, have confirmed in recent weeks that Qatar sees no role for us or other governments in assessing Qatar's CEIP needs. Qatar is paying private consultants for their services. Once the assessments are finished and Qatar's needs prioritized, QP looks forward to drawing on U.S. and other expertise to address identified needs. INVESTMENT FLOWS -------------- ¶8. (SBU) In approaching your meetings with QP and QIA, you should be aware that Qatar's investment in the Golden Pass regasification facility near the Texas-Louisiana border produced a bad regulatory and bureaucratic experience, in Qatar's view. The regulatory hurdles that had to be surmounted led the Qataris to conclude that such investments should be avoided in the future. Besides having a dislike for government bureaucracy and regulation, your likely interlocutor at QIA, Dr. Hussein Abdullah, may impress upon you Qatar's fear that the pursuit of high-profile investments in the U.S. could lead to a negative public backlash (think Dubai Ports World). We note that QIA has developed a 2010 investment strategy that will focus on three areas: the acquisition of businesses that have cash flow problems but are otherwise healthy and well run; investment in a broad range of commodities; and the purchase of commercial real estate in prime locations, primarily in the U.S. and Europe. LeBaron