VZCZCXRO3257
RR RUEHDE RUEHDH RUEHDIR
DE RUEHAD #0199/01 0571245
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 261245Z FEB 09
FM AMEMBASSY ABU DHABI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2175
INFO RUEHZM/GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL COLLECTIVE
RHMFIUU/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHINGTON DC
RUEHRL/AMEMBASSY BERLIN 0125
RUEHAM/AMEMBASSY AMMAN 0891
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0234

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ABU DHABI 000199 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMMENT FOR NEA/ARP 
DEPARTMENT FOR EEB/ESC/IEC/ENR (MONOSSON, SECOR, THOMPSON) 
AMMAN FOR ESTH HUB (BHALLA) 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SENV ECON PREL PARM RS IR AE
SUBJECT: UAE REQUEST TO HOST IRENA HEADQUARTERS 
 
REFS:  A) Abu Dhabi 170 
      B) 2/5/09 Monosson-Cooper e-mail 
      C) Abu Dhabi 6 
      D) 08 State 134385 
 
¶1. (SBU) On February 19, post received a diplomatic note reiterating 
the UAE's desire and qualifications to host the headquarters of the 
International Agency for Renewable Energy (IRENA, first reported in 
Ref A).  Post's informal translation of the diplomatic note 
follows. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Further demonstrating the UAE's interest, the CEO of Masdar 
(The Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company, www.masdar.ae), wrote to UAE 
Ambassador to Washington Yousif Al Otaiba to urge Al Otaiba to seek 
support from key USG contacts and other IRENA signatory country 
officials.  The letter (which has been emailed to NEA/ARP) includes 
additional arguments not included in the MFA diplomatic note. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Begin Text of Diplomatic Note: 
 
United Arab Emirates 
Ministry of Foreign Affairs 
 
Date: February 19, 2009 
 
No. 1647 
 
Circular Number 37 
 
      The UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs presents it compliments to 
all embassies and consulates accredited to the United Arab 
Emirates. 
 
      With reference to the United Arab Emirates request to host the 
International Agency for Renewable Energy (IRENA) headquarters, we 
have the pleasure to attach herewith a paper clarifying the United 
Arab Emirates' reasons and factors for hosting IRENA's headquarters 
in the city of Abu Dhabi. 
 
      The Ministry of Foreign Affairs appreciates support from 
friendly and brotherly countries in this regard. 
 
      The Ministry of Foreign Affairs avails itself of this 
opportunity to renew to all embassies and consulates accredited to 
the UAE the assurances of its highest considerations. 
 
To all embassies and consulates accredited to the UAE 
 
End text. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Begin Attachment Text: 
 
UAE Request to Host the International Agency for Renewable Energy 
(IRENA) Headquarters 
 
The International Agency for Renewable Energy (IRENA) was 
established on January 26, 2009 at the founding conference, which 
held in Bonn, Germany. During this conference, 75 countries signed 
the Agency's statute, and the UAE has signed the statute as a 
founder member of the new agency. 
 
At the conference, UAE Foreign Minister H.H. Sheikh Abdullah Bin 
Zayed Al Nahyan announced the UAE's support for the establishment of 
IRENA, which will provide support and advice to supporting countries 
regarding improving renewable energy technologies.  Sheikh Abdullah 
also announced the UAE's desire to host IRENA's headquarters in the 
city of Abu Dhabi. An official request in this regard has been 
submitted to the head of the committee concerned with reviewing 
countries' requests to host the headquarters. 
 
The International Agency for Renewable Energy (IRENA) 
 
IRENA will be the first international organization focused on 
renewable energy and will provide support to countries in order to 
pave the way for sustained renewable energy usage. It will also 
research current renewable energy uses and seek possibilities to 
expand its scope. IRENA will study all available technology and 
investment tools for using renewable energy, including gathering 
data and information through consultation with international 
academics and experts in this field. 
 
IRENA consists of three main bodies: 
 
General Assembly: 
 
ABU DHABI 00000199  002 OF 003 
 
 
The General Assembly consists of all member countries and is 
considered the supreme body to ratify all resolutions. 
 
Executive Council: 
The General Assembly elects not less than 11 and not more than 21 
members from Agency member countries to form the Executive Council. 
The responsibilities of the Executive Council are to facilitate 
consultations and cooperation among members and to put in place work 
program details approved by the General Assembly. 
 
General Secretariat: 
The General Secretariat will undertake program implementation and 
will be headed by a director general to be nominated by the General 
Assembly. 
 
The General Secretariat's budget will by financed by contributions 
from member countries. The value of contributions will be calculated 
on the United Nations quotas table. 
 
The Merits of the UAE as Host 
 
-- The UAE would be the ideal location for the IRENA headquarters 
given its geographical location between East and West. 
 
-- The UAE has international-level infrastructure that provides all 
necessary services, international transportation system, and its 
international airports and airlines reach most countries of the 
world. 
 
-- The UAE has the best infrastructure for telecommunication, 
internet and satellite communications. 
 
-- Many international organizations, including UN regional offices 
and affiliated organizations, have their headquarters in the UAE, 
and are practicing their business easily and in accordance with "The 
Headquarter Agreement", and concluded agreements of "Privilege and 
Immunity." 
 
-- Since its establishment in 1971, the UAE has enjoyed a great 
record in preserving the environment.  The UAE developed 
environmental institutions, legislation and regulations to achieve 
sustainable development.  In addition, the UAE has signed the 
relevant international agreements, joined international 
organizations and participated with the international community in 
this field.  The UAE also introduced the Sheikh Zayed International 
Prize for Environment, the biggest and most valuable environmental 
prize in the world, valued at approximately one million U.S. 
dollars. 
 
-- The pioneering policy of the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al 
Nahayan to stop the flaring natural gas associated with oil 
exploration in 1970 was the first of its kind among the oil 
producing countries.  This policy proved the UAE's commitment to 
preserve the environment. 
 
-- The UAE (Abu Dhabi Emirate) has committed itself to allocate 7 
percent target of its total energy generation capacity from 
renewable energy by 2020. This proves that the UAE is still planning 
to reduce its future oil dependency, although it is an oil producing 
country and a member of OPEC. 
 
-- MASDAR City, the first zero-carbon, zero-waste city in the world 
totally dependent on renewable energy, was established in Abu Dhabi. 
MASDAR will be a model for cities around the world striving for 
sustainability and will attract major business deals, academics, 
pioneers and advocates of this sector. The population of MASDAR City 
is expected to reach 90,000 daily inhabitants. MASDAR will test the 
boundaries of current and future thinking in sustainable design. It 
will find low cost renewable energy technologies that can be rolled 
out on a large scale to provide the world with safe and clean 
power. 
 
-- The Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (MASDAR) is working with many 
international partners to develop renewable energy. It created a 
joint venture project in Spain (Torresol) to build three solar power 
plants by 2012. A manufacturing plant for photovoltaic panels has 
been established in Germany to develop the next generation of 
thin-film photovoltaic solar panels. 
 
-- MASDAR Institute of Science and Technology (MIST) is the first 
academic research institute entirely focused on renewable energy. It 
is open to students from every corner of the world, and MIST will be 
a platform to transfer renewable energy science and technology. 
 
 
ABU DHABI 00000199  003 OF 003 
 
 
-- The Zayed Future Energy Prize, the first international prize of 
sustainable energy, was announced during the World Energy Summit in 
January 2008. The prize was awarded in 2008 to Mr. Dipal Chandra 
Barua, Founding Managing Director of Grameen Shakti, for his efforts 
to provide rural citizens of Bangladesh with renewable energy 
solutions, and Dr. Martin Green an expert researcher in the field of 
photovoltaic technology. 
 
-- The UAE (Abu Dhabi) is working to establish the world's largest 
Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS). Network.  This technology will 
lead to tremendous drop in the percentage of carbon and to positive 
boom of environmental impression in the UAE.  The project will prove 
the importance of CCS as a basis to reduce carbon footprints from 
industry. 
 
The UAE is preparing its offer to host the IRENA's headquarters in 
Abu Dhabi city, which will be submitted on April 30 to the committee 
constituted to receive applications from countries interesting in 
hosting IRENA's headquarters. Voting will take place during the 
IRENA's second conference for member countries in June 2009 in 
Egypt. 
End text of attachment. 
Olson