VZCZCXYZ0000
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHEG #1431/01 2071318
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 261318Z JUL 09
FM AMEMBASSY CAIRO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3265
INFO RUEHAD/AMEMBASSY ABU DHABI PRIORITY 0606
RUEHAM/AMEMBASSY AMMAN PRIORITY 2058
RUEHTH/AMEMBASSY ATHENS PRIORITY 0001
RUEHRL/AMEMBASSY BERLIN PRIORITY 0300
RUEHCP/AMEMBASSY COPENHAGEN PRIORITY 0029
RUEHMD/AMEMBASSY MADRID PRIORITY 0113
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 1358
RUEHTV/AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV PRIORITY 1935
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO PRIORITY 0148
RUEHVI/AMEMBASSY VIENNA PRIORITY 0093
RHEBAAA/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY

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. 
 
---------- 
BACKGROUND 
---------- 
 
¶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. 
 
-------------------------------------------- 
ADMINISTRATIVE COMMITTEE DISCUSSES WORK PLAN 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶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. 
 
--------------------------------- 
UNITED STATES SIGNS IRENA STATUTE 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶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. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
U.S. DELEGATION BROKERS DEAL TO AVOID DIVISIVE VOTE 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
¶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. 
 
------------------------------------------- 
FRENCH CANDIDATE WINS DIRECTOR GENERAL POST 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶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.) 
 
--------------------------------- 
IRENA ADOPTS INTERIM WORK PROGRAM 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶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. 
 
---------- 
NEXT STEPS 
---------- 
 
¶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