Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) has welcomed aluminium industry leaders from around the world to Dubai for the 50th-anniversary meeting of the International Aluminium Institute (IAI).

The International Aluminium Institute brings together the global aluminium industry to promote a wider understanding of the industry’s activities and to demonstrate both the industry’s responsibility in producing the metal and the potential benefits to be realised through its use in sustainable applications and recycling.

The association’s members include global bauxite, alumina and aluminium companies from all the major producing regions worldwide. The work of the International Aluminium Institute is overseen by a Board of Directors, with each member company represented at a senior executive level.

After the meeting, Board members visited Dubai Electricity and Water Authority’s Mohammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park to hear about the UAE Energy Strategy 2050. Aluminium production is energy-intensive, and decarbonising electricity generation is critical for the industry to reach net-zero by 2050.

Last year, EGA became the first company in the world to produce aluminium using solar power, sourced from the solar park. EGA markets this metal under the product name CelestiAL.

Abdulnasser bin Kalban, Chief Executive Officer of EGA, said, “EGA makes the UAE the fifth largest aluminium producing nation in the world, and we were pleased to welcome the global aluminium industry’s leaders to Dubai. Aluminium is lightweight, strong and infinitely recyclable, making it an essential material for developing a more sustainable society. It also matters how sustainably aluminium is made, and the International Aluminium Institute is a forum to progress the responsibility agenda across the industry as a whole.”

Miles Prosser, Secretary-General of the International Aluminium Institute, said, “We are cognisant that the UAE is an important global centre of aluminium manufacturing and a hub of global trade, both important reasons to bring global aluminium industry leaders together here. EGA is a very active member of the International Aluminium Institute and is leading on key sustainability issues, helping us contribute to tackling industry-wide challenges and making progress for humanity.”

Abdulla Kalban, EGA’s Managing Director, served as Chairman of the International Aluminium Institute from 2014 to 2016, the first Arab to hold this global position in the aluminium industry.

WAM/Esraa Ismail/Rola Alghoul