More than 700 participants, including princes, ministers, executive presidents, decision-makers, investors, petrochemical and downstream industries experts, and a number of speakers, local, regional and international, have confirmed their presence.

The forum will discuss various issues related to the Kingdom’s new strategy to focus on downstream industries with a view to getting the most out of basic raw materials produced here in the Kingdom. More than 85 percent of Saudi polymers products are exported to the world.

The most challenging obstacles related to the downstream industries are a direct result of competitive global markets such as that of China and India which have the potential of high productivity and large domestic markets supported by their ability to absorb those products.

The issue, say experts, is how to let downstream industrial sector play an extraordinary role in diversifying the national income, with strong competitiveness. There is a big gap that needs to be bridged between downstream and upstream industries. “The Kingdom is working very hard to make a solid integration between the two sectors,” said one expert.

The forum will lay the foundations for the downstream industries with new vision and wider facilities to take advantage of the investment opportunities keeping in view the latest developments in the sector, including Jubail Industrial City, Yanbu Industrial City and Ras Al-Khair Industrial City.

A number of ministries, institutions and top companies such as the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ministry of Finance, the National Program for Industrial Clusters Program, Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC), Saudi Aramco, the National Industrialization Company, and Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Maaden), PetroRabigh, Chevron Phillips Petrochemical Company, Dow Chemical Company, ExxonMobil and Bechtel will be taking part in the conference.