will continue to strengthen our
presence in ASEAN and also invest in doubling the number of
technical and customer servicing
experts in the next few years to improve
our customers’ expectation and experience,” said Gecha Ritvirulh, director,
Coatings Solutions ASEAN, BASF.
AkzoNobel Backs Dutch Bid
to Support Green Energy
and Job Creation
AkzoNobel is supporting the Dutch
government’s plan to join the Mission
Innovation coalition. The global initiative aims to accelerate public and private innovation in order to make clean
energy affordable for consumers, as
well as creating “green” jobs and commercial opportunities.
Mission Innovation was announced
by former Microsoft leader Bill Gates
at the United Nations Climate Change
Conference (COP21) in Paris last year. At
the launch, 20 countries – including the
U.S., UK, China, France, Brazil and India
– committed to doubling their respective
clean energy R&D by 2020.
In a letter to parliament detailing the
Dutch government’s plan, Minister of
Economic Affairs Henk Kamp referred to
the support and participation of various
Dutch companies, including AkzoNobel,
Philips and DSM.
“We’re more than happy to give our
support to initiatives such as Mission
Innovation, which aims to make life
more liveable by providing people with
real economic and environmental ben-
efits,” said André Veneman, AkzoNobel’s
Director of Sustainability. “We can’t af-
ford to wait – clean energy R&D is vital
to our future.”
Added Veneman: “There is also a
strong fit with our own Planet Possible
approach to sustainability, which is fo-
cused on resource efficiency and find-
ing ways to do more with less. Almost
40 percent of our energy use already
comes from renewable energy and we’re
working hard to increase that figure.”
Mission Innovation links to the pri-
vate sector via the Breakthrough Energy
Coalition, also launched by Gates at
COP21, which has committed to funding
clean energy companies emerging from
the initiatives of Mission Innovation.
Sika Opens Second Factory
in Thailand
Sika is expanding its supply chain footprint in Thailand by inaugurating a mortars and concrete admixtures plant. The
new facility in Saraburi, 100 km North
of Bangkok, is the Group’s second in the
country. This latest investment will enable Sika to meet the needs of Thailand’s
booming construction market, expand its
local product portfolio and continue its
strong growth.
Heinz Gisel, regional manager Asia/
Pacific: “After our existing plant in
Chonburi reached its limits, we consequently invested in additional production capacities. The new plant will
