Dow Chemical’s (Midland, Michigan / USA) appointment of a senior manager like Markus Wildi, currently head of Dow Europe (Horgen / Switzerland; www.dow.com), to a new position in Kuwait may signal that the US chemical giant has not abandoned hope of saving at least part of the K-Dow joint venture with state-owned Petrochemical Industries Company. The jv plans were scuttled by Kuwaiti authorities at the beginning of 2009 – see Plasteurope.com of 09.01.2009.

Wildi, whose title will be vice president of corporate development, will transfer to the Persian Gulf country, where he will personally represent CEO Andrew Liveris and oversee the group’s existing joint ventures. The manager, who since 1987 has held a number of leadership positions at Dow – many of them in plastics – has “done a great job in creating strong partner relationships between business and government,” Liveris said in a statement. “This role is critically important, and Markus is the right person” for the job, he added.