Austria Still Pitching Vienna For IRENA Headquarters

UNCLAS VIENNA 000739

SIPDIS, SENSITIVE

STATE FOR EEB/ESC MONOSSON, OES/EGC THOMPSON, IO/EDA WEBBER

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ENRG KGHG SENV AU
SUBJECT: Austria Still Pitching Vienna For IRENA Headquarters

REF: A) State 59971, b) Froats-Monosson emails


1. (SBU) Summary: Austrian MFA reps continue to pitch Vienna as
headquarters for the nascent International Renewable Energy Agency
(IRENA),but acknowledge that the UAE has cleverly played the
"South" card in promoting itself. Austrians argue Vienna offers
synergies and that a UAE headquarters would be isolated and stifling
for expatriate staff. We made clear that the USG plans to support
Abu Dhabi, even though our participation is still under discussion
with Congress. End summary


2. (SBU) At a meeting June 18, Post raised reftel points with MFA
reps Christian Krepela (head of the Department for Environment and
Energy) and with Ernst-Peter Brzezovsky (head of the Department for
International Conferences and Organizations) of the Ministry of
European and International Affairs, which has the lead on IRENA
issues. (NOTE: per ref B, Post had already told the GoA informally
that the USG could not support its headquarter candidacy - END
NOTE).


3. (SBU) The GoA continue to pitch us and other governments
in its campaign to host IRENA's headquarters. The campaign has two
principal arguments. The first is networking/synergy, namely
Vienna's strong existing "energy cluster" of international
organizations. Vienna already hosts international organizations
with energy focus including OPEC, OFIC (OPEC's Development Fund),
the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership (REEEP),the
Energy Community (focusing on southeast Europe),and the
International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis/IIASA (whose
researchers model climate change and other relevant issues). The MFA
argues that Vienna would give IRENA key "synergies" not available in
Bonn, much less in the UAE.


4. (SBU) The second GoA argument is Vienna's long experience hosting
international organizations and conferences. Office space for the
expected large number of IRENA employees would be available "from
day one" (versus the UAE facility, which has not broken ground).
The region already has a qualified workforce on energy and
administrative issues. With many embassies from the developing
world, Vienna would offer many more countries the chance for
representation than Bonn or Abu Dhabi.


5. (SBU) GoA interlocutors expressed understanding for why the USG
supports UAE, but raise potential objections to Abu Dhabi (much more
than Bonn). Speaking candidly, GoA reps implied that the UAE does
not have the experience of an existing UN city, is quite isolated
from leading experts and practitioners of renewable energy (most of
whom are in Europe),and might not offer world-class professional
and personal opportunities for expatriates (in particular women).


6. (SBU) The Austrians see the Director-General/DG issue as closely
intertwined with the selection of the headquarters -- i.e. in
practice a DG would come from a developed country if the HQ goes to
a developing country (or vice versa). They spoke favorably of the
Nigerian candidate -- but stopped short of endorsing him/her --
pointing out that the headquarters is permanent (where the DG serves
just for four years),so member states should be careful not to
choose the headquarters for transient political reasons.


7. (U) The Austrian delegation to the Sharm El Sheik meeting will be
headed by MFA Secretary-General (deputy to Minister) Johannes Kyrle,
highlighting the importance that Austria attaches to its HQ
candidacy.

ORDWAY