Mariem Dekhili speaks with Austria’s Ambassador to the United Arab of Emirates, His Excellency Dr. Etienne Berchtold, about bilateral cooperation on energy in part 1 of this three part series.
H.E. Dr. Berchtold’s Profile
Dr. Etienne Berchtold assumed his post as Ambassador of the Republic of Austria to the United Arab Emirates in August 2022.
Prior to his appointment, Dr. Berchtold served at the Federal Chancellery as Foreign and European Policy Spokesperson to Federal Chancellors Karl Nehammer, Alexander Schallenberg, and Sebastian Kurz.
A trained lawyer, he previously worked as Spokesperson to Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz and held positions at Austria’s Permanent Representation to the European Union in Brussels, as well as with Shell Austria GmbH.
Emirati Leadership: COP28
(00:00) H.E. Dr Etienne Berchtold: When I arrived as an ambassador here in the UAE in 2022, this was the big upcoming topic, the COP28, with president, His Excellency Dr. Sultan Al-Jaba, as the COP28 president.
H.E. Dr Al-Jaba did a wonderful job of forging the UAE consensus, of building international consensus around the topics of renewable energy and addressing climate change, in a sustainable way, in a manner that also addresses our economic needs.
(00:29) H.E. Dr Etienne Berchtold: He did a wonderful job and we were glad to be able to cooperate well with him for, during and after COP28, to make this astounding success possible.
(00:56) H.E. Dr Etienne Berchtold: As you mentioned rightly, there is a backbone and this is the pragmatism we see so often here in the United Arab Emirates that they are able to think out of the box.and also bring the private sector on board. This was managed very well at COP 28. I think this showcased for other COPs what they could potentially do.
What Austria Offers the GCC?
Of course, also our private company, our companies, our energy utility companies, particularly our national energy company OMV, as well as our biggest electricity producer, particularly in the field of hydropower, Verbund.
(01:23) H.E. Dr Etienne Berchtold: They were both on board and they signed MOUs agreements with Masdar, the renewable energy company of the UAE, which is active all around the globe.
Energy Collaboration: Renewables and Green Hydrogen
We are working on potential collaboration in the field of solar power, renewable energy itself, as well as the potential production of hydrogen in Europe.
H.E. Dr Etienne Berchtold: "There are many potential fields of cooperation; I would say the next big thing between Austria and the UAE and GCC is probably in the field of renewable energy and hydrogen."
(01:52) H.E. Dr Etienne Berchtold: So how can we make that work? Either by bringing hydrogen in the form of different derivatives from the UAE to Europe, or we produce it together closer to Europe, be it in Northern Africa, be it in Europe.
(02:21) H.E. Dr Etienne Berchtold: There are many potential fields for collaboration and strong interest on both sides. As you rightly said, the relationship between the UAE and Austria is a wonderful one.
The last 51 years, there is a lot of mutual respect and many great things came out of it and many more great things will come out of it in the future.
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