Export Credit Guarantee Agency (ECGA) will host the bi-annual meeting of the Prague Club in Muscat on November 14-16 represented by national and multilateral export credit agencies (ECAs) from 37 countries including Oman and the secretariat of the Berne Union. The Prague Club operates under the auspices of the Berne Union based in London.
ECGA will be hosting the meeting for the second time following the earlier one in December 2006. ECGA was the first ECA from the region to qualify for membership since 2000, a press release said.
Nasir bin Issa al Ismaily, general manager of ECGA of Oman and chairman of the Prague Club, said that many other ECAs, especially from the MENA region have since joined the Prague Club. Other most recent entrants include Latvia and Greece as members and Singapore as an observer.
A total of 37 ECA members will attend the Muscat meeting with total participants expected to be around 70.
Also attending will be multilateral ECAs including the Inter-Arab Investment Guarantee Corporation, based in Kuwait, the Islamic Corporation of the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC) based in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, as well as the Africa Trade Insurance Agency (ATI) based in Nairobi.
The Prague Club has grown from just five founding European ECAs - Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia. The ECAs attending the Prague Club meeting in Muscat include national ECAs from Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Iran, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Latvia, Lebanon, Macedonia, New Zealand, Philippines, Poland, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Singapore, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, South Africa, Sudan, Thailand, Ukraine, UAE and Uzbekistan.
Ismaily added that the agency has benefited through the years by being associated with this reputable international club under the auspices of the Berne Union.
As the chair of the Prague Club, Ismaily was recently invited to address the annual meeting of the Berne Union in Budapest, Hungary. His speech was warmly received by members as it has increased awareness of the activities of the Prague Club.
The president of the Berne Union, Johan Schrijver, will also attend the Prague Club meeting in Muscat which is recognition of the importance of closer cooperation of the two associations of the same credit insurance community.
The Prague Club meeting will coincide with the 20th anniversary of the inception of ECGA operations. The agency has extended its credit insurance and guarantee services to a growing number of Oman exporters for the last 20 years which has contributed remarkably towards the growth of the Omani non-oil exports from RO91mn 20 years ago to RO2.45bn in 2010.
The agency has presently insured exports to 102 countries worldwide. With the credit insurance cover, it has helped Omani exporters to expand their sales not only to existing customers but also to venture into non-traditional markets and explore new buyers globally knowing that the credit risks are mitigated.
© Muscat Daily 2011
