Gulf Downstream Association holds first 2020 board meeting virtually
GDA discussed the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on operations
The Gulf Downstream Association (GDA) today announced the successful conclusion of its first Board of Directors Meeting of 2020 virtually followed by the Annual General Assembly Meeting, which was also held virtually on the same day.
Presided over by Suleman A. Al Bargan, Chairman of the Association, Vice President Domestic Refining & NGL Fractionation – Saudi Aramco, the Assembly was attended by senior representatives of GDA Member companies, who gathered to review activities of the past year and the Association’s strategy for the year ahead.
Audah Al Ahmadi, Secretary-General of GDA, discussed the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on GDA’s operations, and actions were taken to cope with it. He presented the 2019 achievements and way forward plan. Additionally, the audited financial statement of 2019 and the appointment of the external auditor for 2020 were approved by the members. Finally, the current board of directors was re-appointed by the Annual General Assembly for the next two years.
Commenting, the GDA Secretary General Engineer Audah Al Ahmadi said, “Despite the current challenges, GDA continues to work towards meeting our mission of driving further development of the region’s downstream industries through greater collaboration between our members and other key players in the industry both in the Middle East and around the world. In 2019, we successfully increased our membership by 87 per cent and had a 100 per cent membership retention rate. Currently, we are in the process of developing various new services for our members on virtual platforms. We look forward to leveraging the many resources we have developed, both real and virtual, to support our members and to keep building on the momentum we have achieved since our establishment in 2016.”
The GDA was established by its Founding Companies from Saudi Aramco, Kuwait Petroleum International, Bahrain Petroleum Company, Kuwait National Petroleum Company and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company.