Saudi Aramco's aggressive expansion plans are focusing on new opportunities for business alliances between Saudi Arabia and the United States. These plans involve opportunities for greater collaboration with US manufacturers and service providers. These were some of the highlights of the second annual US-Saudi Business Opportunities Forum held recently in Atlanta, Georgia, according to the latest press release of Saudi Aramco. Other keynote presentations covered the growth of Saudi Arabia's economy. The conference attracted more than 1,000 attendees, including senior Saudi and American officials and business leaders, and was conducted to promote business partnerships. The conference was organized by the International Trade Committee of the Council of Saudi Chambers and the US-Saudi Arabian Business Council, in coordination with the US Commercial Service and the Saudi Ministry of Commerce and Industry. Speaking in a panel session titled “Business Opportunities in the Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Sectors,” Munir Rafie, Saudi Aramco Vice President for Materials Supply, reinforced the size and scale of Saudi Aramco's operations and capital program. He also highlighted the company's diversification into petrochemicals. “We have already established a petrochemical complex in Rabigh on the Kingdom's west coast with Sumitomo, and we are about to break ground in the Eastern Province, with Dow Chemicals, on the world's largest integrated petrochemical complex,” he said. “Our aim is to develop industrial clusters around these core enterprises, creating new business opportunities for investors — both from within the Kingdom and throughout the world.”
