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SABIC Hosts Tenth GCC Board Directors Institute Workshop

Riyadh, 5^th June 2011 - The Saudi Basic Industries Corporation ( SABIC ) ranked by Forbes as the second largest diversified chemical company in the world, is to host a workshop on contemporary issues and solutions relating to corporate governance and board effectiveness conducted by the GCC Board Directors Institute (BDI). The workshop will be held at Al Faisaliah Hotel in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from 6^th to 8^th June.

This is the tenth in a series of workshops conducted by BDI and the second hosted by SABIC . The workshop will be attended by senior directors from leading corporate entities and institutions in the region, including Saudi Telecom, Maaden and Investcorp. Participants will hear from faculty members of leading advisory institutions on building board members' capabilities, and will have the opportunity to engage in extensive peer discussion.

Dr. Henry Azzam, Chairman of Deutsche Bank, MENA region, will address a group of over 100 attendees during the sixth BDI Alumni Dinner that will take place on 7^th June and Mutlaq Al- Morished, Executive Vice President, Corporate Finance, SABIC , will present at the opening dinner on 6^th June. The BDI has 195 alumni who are members of the boards of different companies across the GCC.

On hosting the workshop, Mr. Al-Morished said: "We at SABIC believe that we have a leadership role to play in implementing best corporate governance practices and promoting them. BDI and the Senior Director I Workshop it conducts, help raise awareness of the need and benefits of improving board effectiveness in the region. In challenging financial times, the importance of strengthening our corporate governance infrastructure is reinforced and we are proud to host this program that would help us in building better boards on both a corporate and country level."

Dr. Abdullah Al-Abdulgader, Founding Executive Director, BDI, said: "We are very grateful to SABIC for their continuous support and contribution to helping us in promoting professional directorship and raising the level of board effectiveness in the region. With GCC economies coping with the aftermath of the financial crisis, the interest of GCC corporations and regulators in corporate governance has renewed. We are very happy to have leading companies such as SABIC working with us in leading the way in reaching board effectiveness."

The BDI was launched in 2007 in close collaboration with SABIC and four other leading regional corporations: Investcorp, Saudi Aramco, Emirates NBD and Zain. It resulted from an initiative by four leading advisory institutions: Allen & Overy, Heidrick & Struggles, McKinsey & Company and PricewaterhouseCoopers. Since its inception, the BDI has had the full support of the regional regulatory authorities including the Capital Market Authorities of both Saudi Arabia and Oman, the Central Bank of Bahrain, the Qatar Financial Centre Regulatory Authority and the Securities and Commodities Authority of the UAE.

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About the GCC Board of Directors Institute
The GCC Board Directors Institute (BDI) was launched in 2007 by a group of large corporations and professional advisory firms with the explicit goal to support better corporate governance primarily through building board members' capabilities.

BDI was set-up as a not-for-profit institution with the objective of making a positive impact on the economies and societies of the region by promoting professional directorship and raising the level of board effectiveness. Its principle objectives are:

• To build GCC board member capabilities and enhance their understanding of best practice board governance;

• To create a regional network of board members;

• To forge links between GCC board members and their international counterparts;

• To create a forum for discussion on regional governance issues amongst the business community, thereby placing corporate governance higher on the region's agenda.

BDI has delivered nine workshops so far that have gathered over 160 senior board members representing over 350 boards of major GCC companies. BDI now counts over 200 members from the GCC region who have gained access to a wide network of other regional board directors and business leaders through the Institute.

In March 2011, BDI published its second biennial report on board effectiveness that measures the improvements made by boards in the GCC since the first report and assesses the impact of the financial crisis on the implementation of best board governance practices in the region. The first report, published in early 2009, 'Building Better Boards' was the first study of its kind in the GCC.

For more information on BDI or to attend an upcoming workshop, please visit the Institute's website at: www.gccbdi.org or contact the Institute directly at +971 (04) 409 4594.

Media enquiries:
GCC Board Directors Institute
Khamael Al Safi
+971 56 746 32 62

© Press Release 2011

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