We have said repeatedly that the United Arab Emirates deserves the honour of hosting the headquarters of the newly established International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena).
The UAE's application to host the agency, supported by many member countries, seems natural and reflects its position as an emerging economy with modern infrastructure, an open-minded foreign policy and economic freedom.
Read in-depth report on Irena
Most importantly, the UAE's application is supported by the magnificent work achieved in the past few years to lead the international push towards strengthening efforts to curb greenhouse-gas emissions and climatic change and achieve a lower dependence on carbon. The pioneering project at Masdar City is just one example.
Moreover, by granting the UAE the right to host Irena, the international community would send a strong message that the world has really become 'one family' instead of two camps, where the stronger camp - the industrialised Western countries - dominates the more vulnerable camp of the developing world.
One indication of this is that all United Nations agencies are based in America and Europe. There is not a single international agency based in the developing world, such as in Asia and Africa.
As the time for voting on the Irena headquarters approaches (June 29), the contest has boiled down to a hot race between the UAE and Germany, which seeks to have the new agency based in Bonn, probably to compensate for this city's great loss after Berlin became the capital of a unified Germany.
But what the Germans are promoting in their pursuit to host Irena transcends this otherwise natural objective. Its argument, obviously made by its non-governmental organisations, is that the UAE is "not the right place" for a UN agency.
They claim that the UAE's record in human rights, the empowerment of women and foreign policy - in addition to many more baseless allegations - is such that the Arab country does not have the right to host an important international organisation.
Naturally, the UAE's actions speak for themselves. Its record as a tolerant and effective regional and global player, politically and economically, deserves recognition.
But it seems that in its efforts to exclude the UAE and the developing world from the race to host a prestigious agency, Germany doesn't mind using all the weapons at its disposal, including silly and baseless claims.
The UAE doesn't seem to want to denigrate the race to this level of argument. But it is worthwhile to argue with the Germans using their own logic, by which they have been campaigning for years to get a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.
Germany strongly believes that the international order, born with the end of the Second World War in 1945, is over. It argues that a new order recognising the new powers must be introduced, including the expansion of the Security Council to accommodate permanent seats for emerging powers such as Germany, Japan, India and Brazil. Germany has also called for two more rotating seats that should be allocated to Africa and four others to other regions.
The German call recognises the change in the international political order and would accurately reflect recent developments, especially the emergence of new economic powerhouses. I assume all countries in the developing world would agree with this logic, including the UAE.
But by the same logic, we find it strange that Germany itself is trying to block the establishment of a new UN agency in a developing country. Baffling, isn't it?
By supporting the UAE's application to host Irena, Germany would only validate and support, through action, its logic and call to recognise the new world order.
How can Germany seek a bigger role in this changing world and at the same time deny the right of the UAE to seek similar recognition?
The latter has not come out of the blue, but is supported by years of tireless efforts and achievements which prove that the concept of renewable energy is both viable and vital and can curb the catastrophic impact of the dependence on carbon.
In fact, by hosting Irena, the UAE can do more to enhance international efforts to develop renewable energy and curb climate change as it is closer to the developing world - a key target of the new agency. The UAE is already a bridge, politically and economically, between East and West.
Finally, by advocating a change in the world order but simultaneously dismissing a successful emerging economy and discrediting a developed state that has given the world a shining example of cultural and religious co-existence, Germany is shooting itself in the foot.
Germany should in fact support the UAE's application the way we supported efforts by Berlin, and others, to win permanent seats on the UN Security Council.
Your comments
I agree. Why all UN organisations located in Euorope and America? We in Asia and Africa are part of the United Nation and we deserve to host more than one organaisation. And more UAE with its open policy and cotribution to world peace deserves to be recognised as a model to developing countries.
Alwardah Ali
Dubai,UAE
Posted: June 26, 2009, 00:48
