A senior UK delegation, headed by Lord Green of Hurstpierpoint, Minister of State for Trade & Investment, visited Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) headquarters in Riyadh Wednesday. Mohamed Al-Mady, SABIC Vice Chairman and CEO, and other high-ranking company officials, received the delegation. Lord Green, formerly the global group chairman of HSBC Holdings, was accompanied by Edward Oakden, managing director of UK Trade & Investment; and Chris Innes-Hopkins, director UK Trade & Investment at the British Embassy in Riyadh. Al-Mady and Lord Green discussed the prospects for exploring new opportunities between SABIC and the UK companies, largely in light of the fact that SABIC has considerably boosted its presence in the country after its acquisition of Huntsman Petrochemicals in 2006. Commenting on the visit, Al-Mady said that it comes at a time when SABIC is optimizing its international operations, pursuing new ventures for investments, and focusing on technology and innovation efforts. The creation of SABIC UK Petrochemicals was part of this global strategy, with the company now boasting a new state-of-the-art 400,000 metric tons/year LDPE plastics production plant in Wilton, Teesside – the largest of its kind in the world. Operations also comprise a cracker unit and aromatics compounding complex. “We work diligently to improve the business environment through simplifying the planning and development of new infrastructure processes and by maintaining a stable and clear organization. We believe that opportunities will be available in UK, a world leader in manufacturing, technology, research and development in addition to biosciences and creative industries which are receiving support from the widespread existing UK services sector.”
