Tuesday, April 19, 2005

Under the kind patronage of HE Shaikh Isa bin Ali Al Khalifa, Minister of Oil and GPIC Board Chairman, the Environmental Systems Management Workshop was opened on Monday 18th April, 2005 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, in the Kingdom of Bahrain.  The workshop is jointly organized by GPIC and the Arab Fertilizer Association (AFA). 

In an opening address, Dr. Shafiq Al Ashqar, AFA Secretary General thanked HE Shaikh Isa bin Ali Al Khalifa, Minister of Oil and GPIC Board Chairman for his kind patronage of the workshop. He expressed his appreciation of the Minister's concern with environmental affairs and issues. He also thanked Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company, as an AFA member, for its tangible concern with protection of the environment as one of the pillars of total social and economic development. 

Dr. Al Ashqar said that as part of its annual plans and in co-ordination with the member companies and specialized committees AFA is seeking to meet requirements of Arab fertilizers, enhance efficiency and performance and optimizing the overall efforts through holding this three-day workshop.  The event will seek to provide a comprehensive coverage of the environmental dimension of industry. It also seeks to develop an interaction between Arab and international expertise in order to achieve objective results in addition to seeking the expertise of UHDE of Germany. The attendance of more than 100 experts from the member Arab companies and the concerned organizations in the Kingdom of Bahrain will certainly enrich the deliberations of this workshop. 

He was followed by Mr. Al Hathili Al Kafi, Board Chairman of the Arab Fertilizer Association who reiterated in a speech the sincere desire of everyone to pursue the same path that was initiated by AFA since its launch in 1975 by focusing on the slogan: "Towards Improved Fertilizer Technology for Sustained Productivity, Safety and Cleaner Environment."

He added AFA has adopted a strategic vision for realizing its objectives, which are represented by serving the best interests of the member companies through optimizing the exploitation of natural resources which would realize the greatest returns to the Arab economy; fostering efforts with the related Arab and international organizations; strengthening direct relations with the final user in the Arab world and worldwide through the available means and facilities of member companies; contributing to achieve Arab food security on the pan-Arab and international levels and seeking to protect the environment in all phases of prospecting, production and use to serve the concept of sustained industrial development. 

In his speech, he said that AFA has been seeking to develop its mechanisms and programmes in keeping with the latest developments and in response to the requirements of this industry. 

Concluding his speech, he said there are several plans to launch a number of future projects in co-operation with the Arab Organization for Agricultural Development and IMPHOS for organizing pilot fields in the Arab countries for promoting proper ideas about the fertilizer uses and to promote awareness about mineral and chemical fertilizers. Preventing confusion between such fertilizers and pesticides is one of the aims of this scheme. 

On behalf of HE Shaikh Isa bin Ali Al Khalifa, Minister of Oil and GPIC Chairman, Patron of the Workshop, Mr. Abdul Rahman Jawahery, GPIC General Manager delivered a speech in which he welcomed the delegates in the Kingdom of Bahrain and conveyed to them His Excellency's greetings and best wishes for the success of this workshop for enhancing co-operation in the service of total development and economic integration among the Arab states.

Mr. Jawahery further said that the fertilizer industry and raw materials in the Arab states enjoy a prominent status and are an essential element in the industrial sector owing to their effective role in supporting the economies of our countries. Such industry represents the key link with the extraction industries of raw materials such as phosphates, potash, natural gas and sulphur.  It is also considered as a vital element for the development of the agricultural sector, which is the main source of food and food security in the world. 

In his address, he highlighted the vital role played by AFA in the service of the Arab fertilizer manufacturers and raw materials. The Arab world has gained a great significance in the manufacture and trading in fertilizers and their raw materials. This part of the world has around 70% of the world's reserves of raw phosphates, 30% of the world's reserves of natural gas and 6% of potash reserves.  The combined total production capacity of the area amounts to some 22 million tons of nitrogen and phosphate fertilizers in addition to 66 million tons of fertilizer raw materials.

He added that the key challenge facing the global fertilizer industry is the enactment of commercial and environmental laws by some governments and international organizations that compels us to take them into account in our production and marketing strategies. This event, which is organized by the AFA Technical Committee, is one of the tools that AFA considers as a mechanism for forging a closer relationship between the fertilizer industry on the one hand and the environment on the other hand.

He added we are proud of the choice of the Kingdom of Bahrain for holding this vital workshop, which we consider as a precious opportunity for members of the industrial and environmental sectors as it allows the exchange of ideas and expertise concerning the protection and development of the environment in our industrial facilities.  This is particularly significant for the environmental management system of industrial companies and the protection of the environment at the same time.  He noted that the Kingdom of Bahrain has already made vast strides towards the development of its environmental laws and legislation and is in the process of reviewing the existing legislation.  New laws and regulations are to be introduced to take into account the current environmental conditions and requirements of sustained development that we all seek to realize. 

He noted the GPIC experience in the promulgation of environmental legislation and reviewing the existing rules.  Such experience has always been characterized by a partnership between the environmental lawmaker and the industrial sector, professionals, local societies and non-governmental organizations.  Such constructive partnership helps strike a balance between conditions of environmental protection on the one hand and requirements of sustained development on the other hand.  It is the successful means of ensuring the enforcement of the best environmental laws and legislation.

As for the application of management systems, Bahrain has played a pioneering role in this respect, especially through GPIC, which is one of the leading Arab fertilizer and petrochemical companies that introduced the quality management system ISO-9002:1994 which later changed to ISO 9001:2000 and the environmental management system ISO-14001. Finally, the Company adopted the occupational health and safety management system OHSAS-18001. 

Concluding his speech, Mr. Jawahery said the GPIC experience is considered evidence of the need to focus on the environmental management systems. The convention of this technical and specialized workshop is tangible proof of the commitment of our Company to protect and preserve the environment. 

He was followed by Dr. Mustafa Al Sayed, Bapco Chief Executive who said that caring for the environment is of the utmost importance to the industry and

companies should give special attention to this issue. Caring for the environment should start at the design and preliminary engineering stages.  Environmental concern should be part of every industrial organization's culture.

Then, he presented several definitions of safety culture which was considered common for various industries.  The International Atomic Energy Commission defines safety culture as the "assembly of characteristics and attitudes in organizations and individuals that receive the attention warranted by their significance."  The British Health and Safety Commission defines safety culture as "the product of individual and group values, attitudes, competencies and patterns of bahaviour that determine the commitment to, and the style and proficiency of an organization's health and safety programmes."  He noted that it was apparent from the above definitions that safety culture must transcend to all levels of the organization without being distorted by the segmentation inherent in different levels of the organization. It must be a culture of inclusion, where every member has a role and feels responsible to actively, willingly and on principle place priority on safety in influencing collective behaviour.  The typical safety culture goals are represented by the assessment of the identified risks and hazards associated with the operation, introduction and monitoring the required control measures, implementation of comprehensive and active programmes,  executive management must demonstrate support for safety programmes, middle management should be actively involved in safety activities, there is a high level of participation by all employees, all employees should have a positive perception and attitude towards safety and safety programmes and systems are to be frequently reviewed and audited.

Concluding his speech he said he that recognizes that our social, environmental and ethical conduct has an impact on our reputation as a prime industry, which fosters the economy of our countries in this part of the world. He added he considers our corporate social responsibilities as a primary driver for advancing our policies and systems. He reiterated that the organization must create a healthy environment for their employees to be creative, innovative and to perform in order to fulfill their career development.  He noted that this process is described in his book "The Key to Organizational Success" by the acronym MOSIF. These programmes combine the energy of motivation and creativity in a culture that sustains these traits and is summed up by the acronym CREAMOC.

-Ends-

© Press Release 2005