United Arab Emirates: EGA Youth Council and the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology (MoIAT) hosted a youth circle on future industrial leadership for local talent from the UAE’s largest industrial companies.

The Youth Circle was held with the participation of His Excellency Osama Amir Fadhel, Assistant Undersecretary of the Industry Accelerators Sector at MoIAT.

The session took place at the heart of EGA’s industrial operations in Jebel Ali and brought together young people from the Federal Youth Authority, Abu Dhabi Youth councils and leading industrial companies including Mubadala Investment Company, TAQA, DP World, Emirates Steel Arkan, AD Ports Group, ENOC, Tawazun Industrial Park, Yahsat, and EDGE Group.

The group discussed the crucial role of local talent in achieving the objectives of the UAE’s industrial growth strategy, Operation 300bn, in addition to exploring collaboration and partnership opportunities.

His Excellency Osama Amir Fadhel, Assistant Undersecretary of the Industry Accelerators Sector at MoIAT said: “The industry and advanced technology sectors attract skilled local talent who contribute to the UAE’s vision for economic growth and innovation. The Ministry is committed to empowering the leaders of tomorrow, providing them with opportunities to grow and thrive in line with the objectives of Operation 300bn to advance the sector, enhance its competitiveness, and promote its expansion through the adoption of advanced technologies.”

Khalid Essa Buhumaid, Senior Vice President Government Relations at Emirates Global Aluminium, said: “EGA’s Youth Council brings together young people both from within our company and beyond to drive change and create the future. The young people at today’s Youth Circle are the industrial leaders of tomorrow. They will inherit great achievements, and build on them much further.”

Hala Alhashmi, Chair of EGA Youth Council and Product Owner in the Digital Transformation & Industry 4.0 Department, said: “Today’s Youth Circle between UAE industrial companies has highlighted the crucial role and responsibility of young people in shaping the future of UAE industry. Working closely with our peers across industry will enable us to accelerate our progress and achieve even greater success in industrial growth for our nation.”

In 2022, EGA Youth Council hosted the first ‘Youth in Manufacturing & Technology Forum’, a platform that brought together 17 youth councils from across the industry and advanced technology sectors to discuss the objectives of Operation 300bn in line with the leadership’s vision for the industrial sector and the pillars of UAE Centennial 2071 plan.

EGA Youth council hosted and participated in over 20 events during 2023 including 11 nation-wide impact initiatives.

Founded in 2018, EGA Youth Council is dedicated to supporting aspiring young employees to enhance critical leadership skills for future success, while giving youth a strong voice in the company.

Contacts at EGA:
Simon Buerk
sbuerk@ega.ae

About the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology

The Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology (MoIAT) was established in July 2020 to boost the industrial sector's contribution to the UAE's GDP and drive sustainable industrial development. The ministry was formed by combining the Office of the Minister of State for Advanced Technology, the Emirates Authority for Standardization and Metrology (ESMA), and the industrial department of the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure.

MoIAT is responsible for formulating policies, laws, and programs that attract foreign direct investment, enhance national added value, support entrepreneurship, create jobs, attract talents, upskill national cadres, promote exports and raise the competitiveness of products manufactured in the UAE. To achieve these objectives, MoIAT has created an advanced national quality infrastructure system.

MoIAT leverages its expertise, capabilities, and resources to strengthen the national industrial ecosystem by facilitating the establishment of industrial zones, promoting the adoption of advanced technologies and the integration of Fourth Industrial Revolution solutions and enabling the growth of priority sectors as well as industries of the future. The ministry’s work contributes to national efforts to build a diversified, knowledge-based economy and achieve industrial self-sufficiency.

About EGA

Since 1975, when it was founded as Dubai Aluminium by His Highness Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Emirates Global Aluminium has been innovating aluminium to make modern life possible.

Today EGA is the world’s biggest ‘premium aluminium’ producer and the largest industrial company in the United Arab Emirates outside the oil and gas industry.

EGA is equally-owned by Mubadala Investment Company of Abu Dhabi and the Investment Corporation of Dubai. It is the largest company jointly owned by the two Emirates.

EGA is an integrated aluminium producer, with operations from bauxite mining to the production of cast primary aluminium. EGA operates aluminium smelters in Jebel Ali and Al Taweelah, an alumina refinery in Al Taweelah and a bauxite mine and associated export facilities in the Republic of Guinea.

EGA’s aluminium is the second largest made-in-the UAE export after oil and gas. In 2023, EGA sold 2.75 million tonnes of cast metal. EGA is the only UAE producer and makes the UAE the fifth largest aluminium producing nation in the world.

EGA has more than 400 customers in over 50 countries. In 2023, value-added products accounted for 76 per cent of EGA’s cast metal sales.

EGA’s aluminium is primarily used in the construction, automotive, packaging, aerospace and electronics industries.

Around 10 per cent of EGA’s aluminium production is sold in the UAE to around 26 downstream aluminium companies that make products with EGA’s aluminium. The growing broader aluminium sector in the UAE supports almost 48,000 jobs. EGA itself employs around 6,800 of these people including more than 1,200 UAE Nationals.

EGA has focused on technology development for over 30 years. EGA has used its own technology for every smelter expansion since the 1990s and has retrofitted all its older production lines. In 2016 EGA became the first UAE industrial company to licence its core industrial process technology internationally.

As a corporate citizen of the UAE, EGA aspires in all its operations to be measured amongst the world’s leading metals and mining companies in meeting its environmental and social responsibilities. In 2017, EGA became the first Middle East headquartered company to join the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative, a global programme to foster greater sustainability and transparency in the aluminium industry. In 2019, EGA’s Al Taweelah site became the first in the Middle East to receive certification from ASI for its sustainability practices and performance. EGA’s Jebel Ali site was certified in 2021. EGA’s bauxite mining subsidiary, Guinea Alumina Corporation, achieved the first ASI certification in Guinea in 2023. Al Taweelah alumina refinery was certified later in 2023, with the result that EGA now has all of its global operations certified to the aluminium industry’s internationally recognised standard for environmental and social performance and governance.

In 2021, EGA began production of CelestiAL solar aluminium, produced with solar power from the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park on the outskirts of Dubai. EGA is the first company in the world to make aluminium commercially using the power of the sun.

EGA was formed in 2014 through the merger of Dubai Aluminium and Emirates Aluminium.

EGA’s Jebel Ali aluminium smelter began production as DUBAL in 1979. At almost five square kilometres, this site is five times bigger than Dubai Mall.

EMAL started production in 2009 and its Al Taweelah aluminium smelter was the largest single-site aluminium smelter in the world when completed. EGA’s Al Taweelah site is five times bigger than Al Maryah Island at six square kilometres.

EGA has its own power stations at both sites, producing electricity to meet its needs. EGA’s electricity generation capacity is 6,474 megawatts, making EGA the third largest electricity generator in the UAE after the Dubai and Abu Dhabi utilities. EGA also produces water through desalination units at its power plants.

EGA began production at Al Taweelah alumina refinery in April 2019. EGA’s alumina refinery is the first in the UAE and only the second in the Middle East. The project reduces the UAE’s dependence on imported alumina and supplies over 48 per cent of EGA’s needs.

Bauxite exports from Guinea Alumina Corporation, EGA’s wholly-owned subsidiary in Guinea, began in August 2019. The GAC project was one of the largest greenfield investments in Guinea in over 40 years.

For more information on EGA please visit www.ega.ae.