A partnership of Saudi Arabia's Sadara Chemical Company, a joint venture of Dow Chemical and Saudi Aramco, and Bavarian chemical park business management company Chemie-Cluster Bayern (CCB) has agreed to jointly support the development of chemical-based value chains in the PlasChem Park in Jubail, Saudi Arabia through attracting new business.

The cooperation co-initiated by the German-Saudi Arabian Liaison Office for Economic Affairs will focus primarily finding small and medium-sized German and European chemical companies to set up shop in the park as well as unlocking potential for cooperation among smaller businesses.

It is hoped that member companies of the CCB network will be able to capitalize on downstream investment opportunities and establish or expanding their manufacturing presence into the kingdom. The companies will be able to draw on differentiated raw materials and shared services.

CCB, a German public-private partnership initiated by the state government of Bavaria, chemical industry associations, several Bavarian universities and research organisation constitutes a network of about 270 companies and research institutes from Bavaria's chemical industries.

"Our partnership with CCB will support our ongoing efforts in the development of the kingdom's value-added downstream industry, said Mohammad Alazzaz, director of the Dow-supported Value Park at Sadara, which is responsible for promoting and developing downstream opportunities to be located in the Jubail PlasChem Park.

Alazzaz said Saudi Arabia is "actively working to develop new downstream opportunities in the chemicals industries. The rewards of this mutually beneficial relationship will spread throughout the country's economy and help diversify the kingdom's industrial portfolio."