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 2 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.
The Transition: Oil to Non-Oil Output
(00:00) I mean, the success story of the UAE in the non-oil field, which for an audience out at the UAE might not be well known yet, but I think it becomes more more known now, is that the whole GCC is much more than just oil and gas. This trickles down a bit now, also in Austria.
Austrian FDI in the UAE
I get a very strong interest by different fields of our business communities to engage with the UAE and GCC. A lot of Austrian companies already have a pretty strong existence here: about 150 to 200 Austrian companies are in the UAE.
(00:29): They are very happy, very satisfied with the return on investment, with the potential for growth.
AI’s Potential for Bilateral Cooperation
Therefore, the sectors where I get a lot of interest from in Austria is of course AI and technology involving AI. That is a big thing coming up for the next 30 years where we cannot yet grasp the full impact of AI and a lot of potential collaboration on data centres.
Key Bilateral Pillars: Energy, Tech, and Manufacturing
(00:59) Also on energy production for those data centres. Hydrogen comes into play again. Energy will remain more in the field of renewable energy and health and life sciences. The Arab Health, for example, there was a strong Austrian presence at this year’s Arab Health.
(01:26) At the other events regarding health, there will for sure be also a strong Austrian presence because there we have something to show for.
Austrian Inventive Talent: Quality Tech
On renewable energy, we really have a lot to show for on sustainability. We have niche technologies, for example, heat pumps. We are very good at that.
Somebody might say, but why would you need a heat pump in a hot country like in the GCC countries? No, you don't need it for heating alone. You can also need it for cooling, and you can heat it in industrial processes.
(01:54): If you need to heat water up to 120 degrees celsius, you can use a heat pump. You might need that in hospital, in a hotel: these are really diverse applications. It’s just a very small niche application.
We’re very strong and there many more. To sum it up, it’s life sciences, longevity.
It is sustainability and energy ranging from heat pumps to hydrogen and of course AI as such, where we see the UAE as being a very strong and competitive leader, forging alliances with countries like France, like Germany, like the UK, the U.S., and Austria also is very interested.
(02:23): We now have an MOU signed on AI cooperation with the UAE Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence: H.E. Omar Sultan al-Olama. So there’s something, a basis where we can forge cooperation, in particular also between universities.
(02:52) You have a wonderful university on AI, the MbZ University in Artificial Intelligence (MbZ UAI) here in Abu Dhabi.
From our universities there’s a strong interest also to increase cooperation with MbZ UAI and other UAE universities.
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