Saudi Arabia-based Sadara Chemical Company and Chemie-Cluster Bayern (CCB), a leading business management consultant in Germany, have signed an agreement to cooperate and jointly support the development of chemical-based value chains in PlasChem Park in Jubail, Saudi Arabia.

This cooperation agreement will primarily focus on the identification and attraction of German and European Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) working in the Chemicals industries to establish a presence in PlasChem Park.

The signing was co-initiated by the German-Saudi Arabian Liaison Office for Economic Affairs.

The agreement will also help the two parties identify hidden local market potential where joint business development efforts can be more effective than those of individual SMEs. Member companies of the CCB network will benefit by being able to capitalise on downstream investment opportunities, thereby establishing or expanding their manufacturing presence into the kingdom. The companies can leverage the friendly business environment, the availability of differentiated raw materials, the robust infrastructure and the shared services to be made available at Sadara’s PlasChem Park complex.

CCB is a German public-private partnership organisation initiated by the state government of Bavaria, chemical industry associations, several Bavarian universities and research organisations. It represents a network of about 270 companies and research institutes from Bavaria’s chemical industries.  CCB’s member companies have an export rate of more than 6 per cent of their total sales and represent leading solution providers for a broad portfolio of chemical products and value chains.

“Our partnership with CCB will support our ongoing efforts in the development of the kingdom’s value-added downstream industry. The kingdom is driving downstream development in many sectors, and we are actively working to develop new downstream opportunities in the chemicals industries. The rewards of this mutually beneficial relationship will spread throughout the country’s economy and help diversify the kingdom’s industrial portfolio.” said Mohammad Alazzaz, director of Value Park at Sadara, which is responsible for promoting and developing differentiated chemical downstream opportunities to be located in the Jubail PlasChem Park.

“Saudi Arabia is an attractive target region for the Value Creation Partnership team, representing growth markets not only for chemical value chains, but also for the mining, heavy industry and building components sectors. The combination of Sadara’s powerful market access to Saudi Arabia and CCB’s network of innovative solution providers forms a strong alliance set to boost value creation in the kingdom,” said Daniel Gottschald, managing director of CCB. – TradeArabia News Service