Islamic and Non-Islamic ECAs Gather to Exchange Information and Expertise and Promote Trade

The Annual Meeting of the AMAN Union is a yearly gathering which assembles commercial and non-commercial credit and political risks insurers and reinsurers from member countries of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC), and also a ground-breaking event for the global Islamic business community to meet, interact and transact business.
The initiative of this union was proposed by "Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit" (ICIEC) and the "Arab Investment & Export Credit Guarantee Corporation" (DHAMAN) and some of the Islamic ECAs.
Taher Shah Hamed, the Chairman and CEO of the Export Guarantee Fund of Iran explained the meeting's achievements and objectives as follows:


When the "AMAN Union" was launched? What was the idea behind its establishment?
It was launched in ۲۰۰۹. The main objectives of the Union are: Development and facilitation of intra OIC trade, creation of a credit information and a debt collection agency for OIC member countries, encouragement of exchange of information, technical assistance, and consultation among members, carrying out studies and researches pertaining to credit insurance industry, cooperation with the other international organizations and encouraging other countries to establish ECAs with the aim of export promotion of the Islamic countries.


What are the benefits of membership in the AMAN Union?
The most important benefits of membership in the UNION are:
1) Access to foreign buyers' data bases in other countries:
The access to the credit information on foreign buyers and their credit assessment is the essence of ECA's job to cover non-payment risk of buyers. One of the greatest achievements of this union has been the creation of a common data base among member countries which will meet a great deal of their needs to such information.
2) Cooperation in claims recovery:
The debt collection and claims recovery are complicated processes. Therefore, the cooperation of member countries to create a claim recovery agency will be beneficial.
3) Joint insurance and re-insurance with Islamic ECAs:
Cooperation among the members in the form of joint/re-insurance will create more capacity for them to cover more risks through risk sharing.


What is the agenda of the UNION's Executive Council meeting?
The main items on the meeting's agenda are adoption of the budget for ۲۰۱۴ and review of the projected budget for ۲۰۱۵, increase of membership fees, creation of a dedicated secretariat general, and review of the activities of the database center.


What are the highlights of this event?
In this international gathering, more than ۷۰ delegates from ۲۷ countries have attended. Moreover, the CEO of SACE, as a keynote speaker will present about the pre-sanction experience of foreign financiers in Iran and post-sanctions horizon of Iran´s lucrative market.