At its recent annual meeting, members of the Cefic (Brussels / Belgium; www.cefic.org) industry association elected Solvay (Brussels; www.solvay.com) CEO Jean-Pierre Clamadieu as the trade group’s new president. He replaces Kurt Bock, chairman of BASF (Ludwigshafen / Germany; www.basf.com), who completed his designated two-year term.

Upon his nomination, Clamadieu outlined the goals of his presidency, stressing that his main focus would be on ensuring that Europe’s 29,000 chemical companies and their 1.2m employees remain competitive amid the current challenges facing the sector – including US shale gas, a slowdown in growth as well as high energy and feedstock prices.

In his inauguration speech, Clamadieu said, “We support and share the EU’s goal to move towards a more sustainable and thriving economy, but our industry can only fully partake if the path towards this goal is affordable. Instead of a high-cost approach, we call on the EU to create incentives to safeguard and ensure the chemical industry’s crucial role in coming up with innovative products and technologies. This will stimulate innovation, lead to new jobs and re-invigorate growth.”