Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic) played a prominent role this year at what is fast becoming Asia’s leading platform for dialogue — China’s Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) 2010.

The three day meeting from April 9 to 11, held at Boao, Hainan Province, brought global thought leaders together to discuss how Asia can continue to grow while ensuring, at the same time, that the growth is “green” and sustainable.

Mohamed H Al-Mady, Sabic vice chairman and CEO, was one of only three corporate leaders invited to address the opening plenary session, following keynote speeches by Xi Jinping, vice president of the People’s Republic of China, and other political leaders from throughout the region.

Al-Mady’s keynote speech highlighted the challenging task of finding a green and sustainable path forward and noted that Sabic was committed to reducing the company’s carbon intensity, improving energy, water and material efficiency through operational excellence, and innovating more sustainable products and processes.

“Sustainable development has become a central aspect of our business strategy,” Al-Mady said, “and we will involve all our employees in the journey — and hope to engage all our customers and partners in Asia in this journey as well.”

Al-Mady also noted that the financial crisis of 2009 temporarily slowed the momentum of many businesses toward going greener and forced many consumers to make more cost-based buying decisions, but he also said that there is abundant evidence that the demand for more sustainable solutions has not diminished.

“However, we have learned that improving sustainability must also mean improving economic value,” Al-Mady said.