CAIRO: Members of the Egyptian government and business community will gather today for the first ever Euromoney Egypt Insurance Conference, to be held at the Four Seasons in Garden City. Euromoney Conferences and the Insurance Federation of Egypt are sponsoring the conference, which will focus on the country's small insurance industry. "The conference will discuss the importance of the insurance sector in the provision of social stability, financial sector development and economic reform, said conference organizers in a statement. "It will consider how far the market has come and what needs to be done to move the market to its next stage. Euromoney is a London-based financial magazine founded in 1969 and dedicated primarily to market coverage. It holds conferences around the world as part of an effort to connect business leaders and policy makers. The Insurance Federation of Egypt, which is cosponsoring the event, was founded in the early 1950s and today serves as a regulatory body and a network for Egyptian insurance companies. "I am very pleased that the Federation selected Euromoney with whom to work on their important conference, said Richard Banks, Euromoney Regional director. "It is an honor to be working with them and we hope to be able to grow and develop this project alongside the growth and development of their market. The title of the conference, "Mobilizing Egypt's Insurance Market, has two meanings this year given the toll taken by the global economic recession and since Egypt's insurance industry is, by all measures, underdeveloped. Among the government officials speaking at the conference are Minister of Investment Mahmoud Mohiedin, Minister of Administrative Development Ahmed Darwish, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities Zahi Hawass, and Minister of Health Hatem Gabaly. With many of the government ministers offering speeches on the insurance industry, the day will also be marked by a number of panels that will focus on the opportunities and challenges of reforming the Egyptian insurance sector, the pension and social security system, insurance and highway safety, the development of public and private healthcare, and the relationship between the insurance industry and the capital markets. Participating in these panels are a number of business and insurance leaders in Egypt including Chairman of the Egyptian Insurance Federation Abd El Raouf Kotb, Chairman of the Insurance Holding Company Mahmoud Abdallah, Managing Director of the Carlyle Group Hassan El-Khatib, and Senior Managing Director at Concord International Investments Abbas Hilmi. Even though the Egyptian insurance industry remains small, it has grown considerably in recent years due to measures aimed at reforming the system and because of public education programs. As the insurance industry undergoes changes across the board, from healthcare to pensions, this conference will give the rare opportunity for industry leaders on both sides of the public-private divide the opportunity to touch base, share best practices, and plot the course ahead.
