IRENA DIRECTOR GENERAL PELOSSE WELCOMES

UNCLAS PARIS 000984 SIPDIS, SENSITIVE NOT FOR INTERNET DISTRIBUTION DOE/PI J ELKIND, P YOSHIDA E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ENRG KGHG SENV FR SUBJECT: IRENA DIRECTOR GENERAL PELOSSE WELCOMES U.S. SIGNING OF INTERNATIONAL RENEWABLE ENERGY AGENCY STATUTE REF: STATE 073217 ¶1. (SBU) On July 20, Helene Pelosse, the Interim Director General of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) told ESTH Counselor that she welcomes the U.S. signing of the IRENA Statute and looks forward to working together with the U.S. Government. ¶2. (SBU) Pelosse welcomes reftel's invitation to visit Washington for consultations with the Departments of State and Energy, as well as Congressional meetings. She is tentatively planning to be in Washington in early October, and will arrange details of her schedule through the Environment Section of the French Embassy in Washington, DC. ¶3. (SBU) Pelosse confirmed that she intends to relocate from Paris to Abu Dhabi toward the end of 2009 as the office space identified for IRENA currently requires some construction. ¶4. (SBU) Pelosse agrees that the IRENA secretariat should be lean, effective and accountable. She is meeting this week with officials from the OECD's International Energy Agency (IEA) to ensure good coordination and no duplication of effort. She would also welcome the secondment of suitable official(s) from the U.S. Government to staff IRENA. ¶5. (SBU) Pelosse supports permanent seats for the United States (and Japan) on the IRENA Council. Her current thinking is that, given the financial contributions of the U.S. and Japan to IRENA, IRENA members would support the re-election of the USG and Japan at every election. This method would have the advantage of not requiring amendment of the IRENA Statute. She will also continue to look into a better solution to ensure continued U. S. Government representation on the Council. Pekala