13 June 2011
MUSCAT -- Nasir bin Issa al Ismaily, General Manager of the Export Credit Guarantee Agency (ECGA) of Oman, chaired the autumn meeting of the Prague Club of the Berne Union, which was held in Phuket, Thailand, recently. The meeting was hosted by Exim Thailand in co-ordination with the Secretariat of the Berne Union.
Also in attendance were Angus Armour, President, Kimberly Wiehl, Secretary- General and Fabrice Morel, Director of the Berne Union, as well as special invited speakers, panellists and participants from different ECA member countries. Suleiman Gharib al Sheibani, the Underwriting Officer of ECGA of Oman, was also present.
The participants reviewed the outcome of the last meeting held in Zagreb, Croatia last November. They also discussed new developments involving organisational issues, products and business happenings since the Zagreb forum.
Nasir al Ismaily welcomed Tasdeer of Qatar Development Bank as the latest ECA member that has joined the Prague Club. Membership of the Prague Club, comprising countries of Eastern and Central Europe, Middle-East, Africa and Asia, has since grown to 34. In his keynote speech, Angus Armour, President of the Berne Union who is also Managing Director and CEO of the Export Finance and Insurance Corporation of Australia, highlighted the importance of closer co-operation among members and the Berne Union. The role of ECAs in mitigating credit risks to exporters in the international trade has been very vital and growing. Export credit insurance has been one of the effective ways of promoting national exports, he said.
MENA countries were discussed the upheaval in the region and the extent of the effect of credit risk. There were also presentations by the Export Credit Guarantee of Egypt (ECGE), Saudi Export Program (SEP), Export Credit Insurance of Emirates (ECIE), Islamic Corporation of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC) - multilateral ECA for Islamic member countries as well as ECGA of Oman on payment experiences and latest developments with regard to credit insurance in their markets.
The meeting also looked at risk assessment as public buyers. Separate presentations from MEHIB - ECA of Hungary as well as the Arab Investment & Export Credit Guarantee Corporation (Dhaman) were provided.
The ECIC of South Africa made a presentation on medium and long term transactions for credit insurance.
Also on the agenda were issues facing ECAs, including buyer fraud, policy pricing, the offering of discounts for policyholders that manage their polices very well, and various forms of ECAs support for SMEs including areas of risk mitigation and financing. Trade between affiliates, limits on banks, limiting expenses for debt collection, and premium and maximum liability for ECAs were also deliberated upon.
Al Ismaily, Chairman of the Prague Club, thanked the members for their active participation in the forum. He also welcomed members to the next meeting of the Prague Club to be held in Muscat in November 2011. This will be the second time that ECGA of Oman will be hosting this meeting following an earlier meeting in 2006.
MUSCAT -- Nasir bin Issa al Ismaily, General Manager of the Export Credit Guarantee Agency (ECGA) of Oman, chaired the autumn meeting of the Prague Club of the Berne Union, which was held in Phuket, Thailand, recently. The meeting was hosted by Exim Thailand in co-ordination with the Secretariat of the Berne Union.
Also in attendance were Angus Armour, President, Kimberly Wiehl, Secretary- General and Fabrice Morel, Director of the Berne Union, as well as special invited speakers, panellists and participants from different ECA member countries. Suleiman Gharib al Sheibani, the Underwriting Officer of ECGA of Oman, was also present.
The participants reviewed the outcome of the last meeting held in Zagreb, Croatia last November. They also discussed new developments involving organisational issues, products and business happenings since the Zagreb forum.
Nasir al Ismaily welcomed Tasdeer of Qatar Development Bank as the latest ECA member that has joined the Prague Club. Membership of the Prague Club, comprising countries of Eastern and Central Europe, Middle-East, Africa and Asia, has since grown to 34. In his keynote speech, Angus Armour, President of the Berne Union who is also Managing Director and CEO of the Export Finance and Insurance Corporation of Australia, highlighted the importance of closer co-operation among members and the Berne Union. The role of ECAs in mitigating credit risks to exporters in the international trade has been very vital and growing. Export credit insurance has been one of the effective ways of promoting national exports, he said.
MENA countries were discussed the upheaval in the region and the extent of the effect of credit risk. There were also presentations by the Export Credit Guarantee of Egypt (ECGE), Saudi Export Program (SEP), Export Credit Insurance of Emirates (ECIE), Islamic Corporation of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC) - multilateral ECA for Islamic member countries as well as ECGA of Oman on payment experiences and latest developments with regard to credit insurance in their markets.
The meeting also looked at risk assessment as public buyers. Separate presentations from MEHIB - ECA of Hungary as well as the Arab Investment & Export Credit Guarantee Corporation (Dhaman) were provided.
The ECIC of South Africa made a presentation on medium and long term transactions for credit insurance.
Also on the agenda were issues facing ECAs, including buyer fraud, policy pricing, the offering of discounts for policyholders that manage their polices very well, and various forms of ECAs support for SMEs including areas of risk mitigation and financing. Trade between affiliates, limits on banks, limiting expenses for debt collection, and premium and maximum liability for ECAs were also deliberated upon.
Al Ismaily, Chairman of the Prague Club, thanked the members for their active participation in the forum. He also welcomed members to the next meeting of the Prague Club to be held in Muscat in November 2011. This will be the second time that ECGA of Oman will be hosting this meeting following an earlier meeting in 2006.
© Oman Daily Observer 2011
