Abstract:

　　Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) has taken a sponsorship role, along with other petrochemical and chemical companies active in the Gulf Region in presenting the First Gulf Petrochemical and Chemical Association (GPCA) Plastics Summit in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, from June 14 through June 16.

　　SABIC, as one of the world's largest chemical companies, also furnished one of the major speakers at the two-day conference. Khaled Al-Mana, SABIC Executive Vice President, Polymers, addressed the conference on day one about the "Growth Opportunities and Challenges for Plastics Conversion in the GCC," a special industry-segment focus of the conference's main theme of "Sustainable Growth Across the Value Chain."

　　Al-Mana noted that the GPCA Plastics Summit's high-level agenda offers a good opportunity for the Middle East plastics industry to further consider ways to drive sustainable growth through socially responsible initiatives. "From the GCC perspective," Al-Mana said, "We are looking at a booming sector with above-GDP growth over the next five year and the addition of more jobs to the 60,000 workers already employed by about 1,100 enterprises throughout the region."

　　As to the major theme of the conference- sustainable growth- Al-Mana noted that he saw growth opportunities in two major areas: durable products for the construction industry and recyclable solutions for the packaging industry. He pointed out that SABIC would soon open a new customer support and application development center in Riyadh. "The new center will focus on engineering plastics to help local customers design and manufacture new products not produced in the GCC countries today," he said.

　　The GPCA Plastics Summit is jointly organized by GPCA- a voluntary, non-profit association representing the interests and concerns of the petrochemicals and chemicals industry in the Gulf- and Chemical Week, a leading trade publication for the global chemical industry.