SABIC co-hosts second edition of BFA Riyadh Conference, highlights Asia’s global importance

SABIC, a global leader in diversified chemicals, co-hosted the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Riyadh Conference 2025 on November 27, 2025, in Riyadh, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, for the second consecutive year.

Held under the theme “Transition Towards Regional Economic Diversification and Sustainable Development,” the forum brought together senior government leaders, global business executives and experts, stressing regional and global cooperation to address pressing challenges before the world today.

At the Opening Session, Zhang Jun, BFA Secretary General; HE Ban Ki-moon, BFA Board Chairman and eighth UN Secretary General; and Leung Chun-ying, Vice Chairman of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, delivered remarks, in which they praised the ongoing honorary strategic partnership between SABIC and the BFA, as well as the hospitality and excellent arrangements made for hosting the Conference in the Saudi capital of Riyadh.

Eng. Abdulrahman Al-Fageeh, SABIC CEO and BFA Board Member, delivered a welcome address at the opening of the Conference, in which he highlighted the value of the event as a facilitator of dialogue and cooperation to address key global and regional issues.

“Today’s gathering provides a perfect occasion for all of us to explore wider and deeper avenues of collaboration – across sectors, across regions, and across product value chains. These promote the exchange of goods, the investment of capital, and the sharing of knowledge, which in turn leads to commercial ventures that help diversify economies, smooth the energy transition, and support our shared ambitions for sustainable development,” he stated, adding, “These are some of the goals that the transformative Saudi Vision 2030 has called for since its inception in 2016.”

Eng. Al-Fageeh also pointed out that the Kingdom has advanced on numerous fronts since then. “The Kingdom ranked first globally in the second quarter of this year in GDP growth, with 47% driven by the private sector,” he noted.

Speaking at a roundtable on “Energy Transition and Sustainable Development,” Eng. Al-Fageeh emphasized that the chemical industry requires a reliable energy supply, coupled with innovative technologies, to be more efficient – and therefore more sustainable – in its operations.

Eng. Al-Fageeh also highlighted that SABIC was born with a sustainability mindset, as it was established to turn gases that would have been flared to useful chemical products, and pointed out that the same mindset continues to guide SABIC’s activities to this day, including SABIC’s aspiration to achieve carbon neutrality for operations under its control by 2050.

SABIC and the BFA announced during the Conference the continuation of their honorary strategic partnership for the seventh year.

SABIC has been an honorary strategic partner of the BFA since 2020 and regularly participates in its annual gathering in the Chinese town of Boao in the Hainan Province.

The Conference held in Riyadh is part of the Forum’s international series convened annually outside China essentially to strengthen economic cooperation across countries.