​ Written by: Yasser bin Salem Al-Husseini

Within the framework of ongoing cooperation and coordination aimed at supporting industrial development in the GCC countries and empowering the industrial sector across the Council, the Gulf Organization for Industrial Consulting (GOIC) held a specialized workshop on Tuesday, January 27, titled “Study of Critical Essential Products in the GCC Industrial Sector.” The workshop was attended by a number of directors from relevant departments at the GCC General Secretariat, as well as engineers and technical specialists from the Organization.

The workshop was inaugurated by Mr. Damask Al-Ajmi, Director of the Industrial Projects Department at GOIC, who welcomed the participants and spoke about the importance of the workshop, its objectives, and its expected outputs for the Gulf industrial sectors. He also expressed his best wishes for the participants’ success. Engineer Talal bin Eid, Head of the Industrial Support Section at GOIC, then presented the program and the working paper detailing the workshop agenda.

The workshop on the “Study of Critical Essential Products in the GCC Industrial Sector” comes as part of the implementation of unified industrial strategic initiatives for the GCC, with the aim of prioritizing initiatives that enhance regional industrial and economic security. GOIC was tasked by the GCC General Secretariat to identify and classify essential (critical) products and materials—raw, intermediate, and finished—across four vital sectors of the GCC industrial sector. The importance of the study stems from the increasing global risks associated with health crises and natural disasters and the disruptions they cause to global supply chains.

The study focuses on materials whose absence would have severe impacts on food, medical, water, and energy security systems, as well as on the stability of Gulf industrial production. It adopts a unified regional approach that takes into account the specificities of each GCC country and the varying levels of material criticality among them. The study also provides a comprehensive analysis of supply chains—from production and storage to distribution and procurement—while assessing their exposure to risks.

The implementation of the “Study of Critical Essential Products in the GCC Industrial Sector” is carried out through three main phases: developing a methodology to identify critical materials; collecting and analyzing data and classifying materials according to risk indicators; and designing a system to update lists and develop effective policies and recommendations to ensure the continuity of critical raw material flows during crises and disasters.

The study’s outputs aim to support decision-makers and to build resilient and sustainable supply chains that enhance the competitiveness of Gulf industry and its ability to face future challenges and crises. In this context, extensive preliminary lists of materials and products were prepared for the four targeted sectors (food, medical, energy, and water). Their criticality was assessed using a systematic quantitative evaluation based on a two-dimensional matrix to measure criticality with higher accuracy. This aims to strengthen the GCC countries’ ability to understand industrial material sensitivity and to support decision-makers in developing effective policies to ensure the sustainability of vital supplies.

The results showed that risk patterns vary across sectors. The water and medical sectors exhibit the highest levels of criticality due to limited alternatives and high dependence on supply chains outside the GCC. In contrast, risks in the food sector are linked to fluctuations in global markets and the concentration of production sources. The energy sector is characterized by sensitivity related to highly complex technologies that require advanced industrial infrastructure.

The study also presented a set of strategic and executive policies and recommendations aimed at managing essential and critical industrial products in the GCC by linking quantitative industrial risk analysis results to vital supply chains in the food, water, medical, and energy sectors. The recommendations emphasized the need to move away from fragmented, sector-specific treatments and ad hoc responses toward a unified, institutional, and sustainable Gulf system capable of anticipating and managing risks and enhancing preparedness for future crises. Proposed policies included developing a dynamic Gulf system for the periodic and systematic updating of critical material lists, strengthening targeted local manufacturing for materials with high industrial feasibility, diversifying supply sources and reducing supplier concentration, and establishing early-warning systems based on data and predictive analytics to monitor disruptions in global supply chains. The study also stressed the importance of aligning industrial policies with investment, financing, and trade tools, strengthening partnerships with the private sector, and building national capacities in research, development, and manufacturing to ensure that recommendations are translated into actionable and sustainable policies.

The workshop included interactive sessions featuring constructive discussions on the presented topics, consideration of different viewpoints, and responses to participants’ inquiries.