ALBA, a key participant and sponsor of the 29th International Aluminium Conference held in Abu Dhabi, reaffirmed its support towards strengthening its links with aluminium leaders around the world and gaining a wider understanding of the industry.

 Alba’s chief operations officer Isa Al Ansari represented the company at the “Executive Industry Panel on global industry challenges” while chief marketing officer, Jean Lucas Baptiste, was a panelist on “The markets panel: market watchers and players share their views on where aluminium is headed”.

 Al Ansari said: “As one of the top smelters in the world, Alba is committed to playing a leading role in an international event such as the 29th International Aluminium Conference, which brings together aluminium leaders on a single platform.”

The official said the conference addressed issues and challenges faced by the industry and offered tremendous opportunities for potential trade partnerships.

The event, organised by Metal Bulletin and hosted by Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA), attracted more than 500 key industry decision-makers from around the world.

UAE Minister of Energy Suhail Mohamed Faraj Al Mazrouei highlighted the importance of EGA and the greater aluminium sector to the local economy.

“From the early days of our union, aluminium was identified as the metal of the future and the industry of the future. Today, aluminium stands as a flagship industry in our nation’s development and on-going diversification,” he said.

Meanwhile, Abdulla Kalban, managing director, EGA, sketched the growth of the sector since the onset of the global economic crisis in 2008, highlighting its successes against the odds.

A 2012 study found that GCC smelters had the lowest conversion and business cost and lowest economic and power cost per tonne of aluminium.

“The future of the Middle East aluminium industry remains bright. In the primary aluminum sector, further capacity expansions have been announced by four of the GCC smelters that will collectively add another 2.25 million tonnes to the region’s annual production capacity,” Kalban said.

The official also noted that the downstream aluminium industry was expanding.

 A presentation was made on the construction and commissioning of Emirates Aluminium (Emal) – a massive undertaking completed in two phases.