VZCZCXYZ0000
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHGV #0282 0961251
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 061251Z APR 09
FM USMISSION GENEVA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8253
INFO RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 3000
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS

UNCLAS GENEVA 000282 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR IO/EDA and EEB/OMA 
USUN for JLAWRENCE, COMMERCE for RDONOVAN, LCOSTA, CMUIR, and 
PTHANOS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON EINV EFIN UNCTAD
SUBJECT: Insurance in Africa-Unmet Needs 
 
¶1. Summary: In an UNCTAD Ad-Hoc Expert Meeting on Capacity-Building 
in the Insurance Sector in Africa, experts discussed various types 
of insurance (health, life, accident, catastrophe, political risk, 
property insurance, and reinsurance) and five project proposals from 
UNCTAD and the African Insurance Organization (AIO) aimed at 
improving the regulatory environment for insurance in Africa and the 
capacity of Africans to build an effective insurance sector.  UNCTAD 
emphasized that there is a high correlation between a country's 
level of development and the extent of insurance coverage, and that 
Africa is severely under-served. End Summary. 
Background 
---------- 
¶2. At the twelfth ministerial meeting of the UN Conference on Trade 
and Development (UNCTAD) held in Accra, Ghana in April 2008, member 
states recognized the importance of a vibrant insurance sector to 
development (para 117, Accra Accord) and mandated UNCTAD to provide 
policy analysis and capacity building on: prudential regulatory 
frameworks, the establishment of competitive insurance markets, and 
human resources development, and emphasized that assistance should 
especially be provided to African countries (para 157, Accra 
Accord).  The February 23 UNCTAD Ad-Hoc Expert Meeting on 
Capacity-Building in the Insurance Sector in Africa, was a response 
to this mandate.  It was attended by about 20 experts and 15 member 
state observers. 
¶3. UNCTAD is the only body in the UN system that has a specific 
mandate on insurance and has been working on insurance issues since 
its founding in 1964. 
Five project proposals 
------------------------ 
¶4. In the February 23 meeting, Ambassador Guy-Alain Emmanuel Guaze 
(Ivory Coast) described the need for insurance in Africa, especially 
the legal guarantees and security offered by insurance. He also said 
Africans need to be educated about the value and role of insurance, 
since many Africans consider insurance an unaffordable luxury. 
¶5. UNCTAD and the African Insurance Organization (AIO) sought 
fundinQor five projects to strengthen the insurance industry in 
Africa.  Project 1, which would last 18 months and cost US$542,700, 
would provide affordable insurance software to African insurance 
companies.  Prisca Soares, Secretary-General of AIO said the 
software was necessary to capture information in a standard form for 
the development of statistics. 
¶6. Project 2, focuses on the African Centre for Catastrophe Risks 
(ACCR) and will help African governments plan and prepare for future 
disasters by monitoring potential natural catastrophes, through the 
use of scientific data. The purposed duration and estimated cost for 
project 2 are 60 months and US$3,203,550. 
¶7. Project 3, with a proposed duration of 24 months and cost of 
US$544,660, supports development and implementation of regulatory 
and supervisory structures for the insurance industry in Africa, 
which would allow prudential monitoring of the sector.  It provides 
technical assistance for African governments to examine their 
respective national insurance laws, and to make changes to the 
supervisory structures as each government deems necessary. 
¶8. Project 4, which has a proposed duration of 24 months and cost of 
US$1,925,520, would support the development of African insurance 
statistics, such as mortality tables.  These new statistics would 
enable the expansion of Life Insurance products and Pensions schemes 
in Africa. 
¶9. Project 5, with a 12 months duration and estimated cost of 
US$357,080, would modernize human resources through  training 
insurance professionals to become trainers themselves (training the 
trainers), and harmonization of curricula, textbooks, and 
certification standards in Africa. 
¶10. Comment:  This UNCTAD Ad Hoc meeting responded to strong African 
demand for assistance in the development of their insurance sector, 
but also highlighted the scarcity of statistics concerning that 
sector. It was estimated that less than six percent of African 
people, excluding South Africans, have any type of insurance, with 
most of the insured being urban dwellers.  Growth of the African 
Insurance sector comes from a very low base, and is hindered by a 
lack of reliable mortality tables and statistics as well as a lack 
of creative ways to reach the large, poor, rural population. These 
UNCTAD/AIO proposals would provide a modern regulatory and 
supervisory structure for the insurance sector and develop a 
sufficient number of African insurance professionals to begin 
seriously addressing deficits in the sector. End Comments.