Minister of Oil inaugurates the second edition of the Gulf Safety Forum

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H.E. Shaikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, Minister of Oil, inaugurated on Wednesday March 28, 2018 the second edition of the two-day Gulf Safety Forum at the Crowne Plaza Conference and Exhibition Center. The conference was attended by distinguished international experts and suppliers of safety tools and technologies, which will help industrial enterprises achieve these goals in the GCC and the Middle East.

H.E. Shaikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, Minister of Oil, welcomed the second edition of the Gulf Safety Forum on the Kingdom of Bahrain. He expressed his deep thanks and appreciation to the government and its keenness to provide the highest levels of support to the National Oil and Gas Authority (NOGA) for its great efforts in attracting regional and international events that contribute to the strengthening of the national economy and support the sustainable development in the Kingdom of Bahrain. The Minister also welcomed the guests of the Kingdom of Bahrain wishing them a good stay in the Kingdom of Bahrain; Associated with getting the benefits of the scientific and practical papers presented in this forum and the best scientific and practical practices in the field of safety in the industrial sector and other related sectors, including back to raise the level of development and improvement strategies in their organizations and their countries.

During the opening ceremony, H.E. Shaikh Mohammed bin Khalifa, Minister of Oil, announced the Safety Excellence Award for Bahrain Aluminum Company (ALBA), which proved the best safety achievement in the past two years, which has created innovative ways to permanently improve the safety and health of its employees and the environment and productivity. By sharing examples and practical citations in driving the change process and promoting best practices in health and safety, which have been evaluated by a panel of experts according to many criteria such as management engagement, cultural development, performance improvement, that all applications and enhancements are scalable through key performance indicators.

H.E. Shaikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, Minister of Oil handed the award of Excellence in Safety at the level of the GCC countries to Bahrain Aluminum Company (ALBA), which was received by Ali Al Baqali, Deputy Chief Executive Officer. H.E. praised the great efforts exerted by Alba in this important field. It has affirmed its commitment to apply occupational safety standards and comply with local occupational safety and health legislation, reduce occupational risks and work accidents, that increase employee confidence in the company's protection procedures, improve emergency preparedness, improve production and profitability, Competition for the Safety Excellence Award, as well as applying a systematic approach of the global occupational safety.

The Minister said that this forum will be a good opportunity to discuss many of the topics related to health, safety and environment and the latest developments in this field, for a promising participation with the presence of a distinguished number of specialized speakers who will enrich this event with their ideas and knowledge and experiences for the benefit to participants representing several sectors, including the oil and gas sector, which is one of the sectors with a large labor intensity.

The Minister explained that the National Oil and Gas Authority (NOGA), in accordance with the directives of the government, stressed the importance of health, safety and environment for the development of human resources because the human element is the most important resources on which any productive institution depends. He explained that NOGA pays special attention to issues of Occupational health and safety and directing its subsidiaries to spare annual budgets for good training and to keep the workforce of the latest programs related to human health and occupational safety to improve the health and professional level of their employees that improve the productivity accordingly.

The Minister praised the policies and efforts exerted by the National Oil and Gas Authority (NOGA) subsidiaries, that consider a major pillar of the decisions adopted by the oil companies and emphasizes sustainability in maintaining the highest levels of performance in the field of health and safety, which in turn contributed to win repeatedly for international awards competing major international companies over the past years, which came to be a testament to the integrity of the approach that oil companies in the field of health, safety and the environment continuously.

The minister praised the efforts made by the Europ Petroleum Consultancy to choose the Kingdom of Bahrain to hold their distinguished activities following the successful practical experiences in conferences and forums in previous years which reflect the good reputation enjoyed by the Kingdom of Bahrain in attracting world events specialized in the global oil and gas sector for the specialized conference and exhibition industry and a prominent sign in the Government of the Kingdom of Bahrain support to all kind of events held in Bahrain with  all services and facilities to achieve the highest levels of excellence the Kingdom of Bahrain as a global center to attract the International Conferences and Exhibitions.

The Minister thanked the Chairman and members of the Organizing Committee for their outstanding efforts in the preparation and organization. The Minister also thanked all the national and international oil companies, the speakers and delegations participating in the success of this important event.

It is worth noting that the forum's program will include many discussion and dialogue sessions, attended by a distinguished group of international speakers from the Gulf and international oil and industrial companies, which has a wide participation of more than 200 specialists from the GCC countries as well as distinguished participation from European and American countries.