Oman Oil and Orpic Group host Government-Industry Roundtable Organized by GPCA

The Oman Oil and Orpic Group hosted an important industry roundtable which organized by the Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association (GPCA) on 11 April 2019 at Sundus Rotana Muscat.  The meeting attending by senior government, industry leaders and sspeakers from across the Arabian Gulf and globally converged.

The high-level meeting entitled ‘Harmonized Chemical Management in the GCC’ discussed the importance of collaboration between government and private organizations, and highlighted GPCA’s continuous efforts to provide a platform for cooperation and facilitate a meaningful dialogue among legislators, industry stakeholders and government officials to enact a step change in chemicals management regulations in line with global best practices.

During the event, Dr Hilal Abdullah AL Hinai, GM Corporate Support services, Oman Oil and Orpic Group delivered a welcoming speech in which he said: “This meeting aim to create a platform for cooperation between regulators in the GCC and petrochemical industries to meet challenges and discover the opportunities in improving awareness and promoting dialogue among regulators on best practices available around the world."

The meeting further addressed the need to adopt regional initiatives on chemicals packaging and labelling in line with the Global Harmonization System (GHS) and the benefits of introducing the European Agreement concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road (ADR) as a common solution for the Arabian Gulf region both from an industry and government perspective.

Finally, industry experts praised the outstanding role that Responsible Care®, the chemical industry's commitment to continuous improvement in health, safety, security and environmental performance, has played over the last decade to raise the bar in the chemical industry’s EHS&S standards through the implementation and peer to peer review of voluntary health and safety initiatives and programs.

Dr. Abdulwahab Al Sadoun, Secretary General, GPCA, commented: “We are pleased to have had such a positive outcome at this important government-industry roundtable which gathered together senior government officials, industry leaders and legislators to discuss ways of collaboration between GCC governments and the chemical industry that effectively address chemical management risks and opportunities. By organizing this meeting with the support of Oman Oil Company (OOC) and Orpic, we aim to improve the awareness and foster dialogue among regulators on best available practices across the globe, while increasing collaboration to facilitate the development of regulations related to Global Harmonization System (GHS) and Dangerous Goods Road Transportation (DGRT) by working in partnership with the relevant stakeholders.”

It is worth to mention that more than 65 delegates people attended the meeting from the GCC and other parts of the world, the roundtable included representatives from GPCA member companies, as well as environmental authorities, industrial bodies, fire departments, armed forces, customs and others.