Ilium is to establish a new fibreglass manufacturing facility at the Bahrain International Investment Park (BIIP).

Industry and Commerce Minister Dr Hassan Fakhro yesterday received an Ilium delegation headed by chief executive Gilbert Chomarat.

During the meeting, they announced the plan to set up the facility.

Dr Fakhro praised the growth of manufacturing industry and the important role played by this sector to strengthen the national economy, stressing his ministry's keenness to support this sector.

The Ilium partners are Bahrain Fibreglass (BFG) International and French fibreglass industry experts Gilbert Chomarat and Frederic Romier.

Headquartered in Bahrain, BFG has grown to become a worldwide brand in the design and manufacture of composite fibreglass products.

Gilbert Chomarat is the former chairman of the French-based Chomarat Group, a 100-year-old company and a global leader in the production of reinforced fibreglass composites for the transport, aviation and construction sectors

Frederic Romier has wide experience in export marketing and in developing distributor networks in the composite industry for both Chomarat Group and US-based Nida-Core.

Announcing the project, in the presence of Dr Hassan Fakhro, the Ilium directors explained the main reasons why the company had chosen BIIP for this new investment.

* Quality of the environment for new manufacturing industry that has been created at the BIIP

* Quality of the business climate in Bahrain.

* Quality of the access to regional and global markets via the King Fahad Causeway to Saudi Arabia, the new Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman Port and the proposed new Friendship Bridge Causeway to Qatar.

Ilium will manufacture and distribute reinforced fibreglass using a new process technology, which was designed, developed and patented by Chomarat.

The new company will construct a custom designed 6,000m facility on a 10,000m site at the BIIP and invest over BD5 million in the project.

The plant will provide more than 50 quality jobs for Bahrainis with further jobs being provided in transportation and logistics.

Annually more than 15,000 tonnes of reinforced fibreglass will be produced here and sold to customers in the transportation, recreational and alternative energy industries in the Middle East, US, Europe, Asia and to developing markets including Brazil.

Bahrain's Free Trade Agreement with US will facilitate the company's exports to their customers in the US.

The recently established Abahsain Company Fibreglass manufacturing plant at the BIIP will be a potential supplier of raw material to Ilium.

In March of this year, Dr Fakhro announced another new investment at the BIIP in the fibreglass sector from Saudi Arabian Amiantit Company based in Dammam.

The meeting was attended by acting under-secretary for industry affairs Osama Al Arrayedh and BIIP project manager Brian Cogen.-TradeArabia News Service