Introduction
REPORT OF
SECOND ROUND-TABLE MEETING ON AN ASIAN REINSURANCE CO-OPERATION
Bangkok, 7-10 December 1976
I. Election of officers
Contents
II. Adoption of the agenda
Membership of the Corporation
III.
IV.
Cessions to the Corporation
V.
Choice of the host country
VI.
Decision on further "action
Annex
Revised Agreement with Protocols A, B and C
Paragraphs
1
3
4.
6 - 8
9
11
12
14
15
18
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1..
INTRODUCTION
At the First Round-table Meeting on an Asian Reinsurance Corporation, held in Bangkok from 21 to 25 October 1974, representatives of 18 Asian developing countries, members or associate members of ESCAP, had recognized the advantages which would emerge for their respective countries and for Asia as a whole from the establishment of a regional Asian Reinsurance Corporation and set up a preparatory committee, to which they gave the mandate of pursuing the project further and of reporting back to the Plenary.
2.
The terms of reference of the preparatory committee comprised two main items: to investigate the technical and economic feasibility of the proposed project and to prepare a draft agreement defining the structure of the Asian Reinsurance Corporation, its mode of operation, legal status, capital requirements etc. The preparatory committee, made up of Government officials and insurance executives from 10 Asian developing countries acting in their personal capacities, who had at their disposal the services of an insurance expert appointed by UNDP as well as the assistance of the secretariats of UNCTAD and ESCAP, successfully terminated its work in July 1976.
3.
As requested by the Plenary, the preparatory committee, after ascertaining the feasibility of the project, produced a draft agreement defining the institu-
The draft tional form of the Asian Reinsurance Corporation to be established. agreement comprised a preamble and 28 articles with three protocols and covered in a clear and complete manner all points relevant, to the establishment and
Consensus was reached operation of the proposed Asian Reinsurance Corporation. on all except two points in the draft agreement. Some members of the preparatory committee felt that, prior to any decision, these points should be rediscussed in the Plenary. These two points were the question of membership and that of the mode of cessions to the Corporation. The agenda of the Second Round-table
Meeting was drafted accordingly.
1
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4.
I: ELECTION OF OFFICERS
The Insurance Commissioner of the Philippines, Mrs. Gregoria Cruz-
Dr. G.H. Djabbari, Deputy to
Arnaldo, was elected Chairman of the Meeting.
the President of the Central Insurance of Iran, was elected Vice-Chairman.
5.
6.
II. ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA
The Round-table Meeting adopted, without dissent, the following Agenda:
... 1. Election of officers
2. Adoption of the agenda
3.
Establishment of the Asian Reinsurance Corporation
(a) Membership of the Corporation
(b) Cessions to the Corporation
(c) Choice of the host country
4. Decision on further action
III. MEMBERSHIP OF THE CORPORATION
One participant, supported by the delegation of another country, objected strongly to the fact that although the question of membership was supposed to have been referred to the Plenary for decision, both the feasibility projections and the text of the draft agreement were exclusively oriented towards only one of the options, namely that of an intergovernmental corporation with strong governmental support including privileges and other measures. Since his country was against such a solution and in favour of a purely private regioral reinsurance company, he insisted that a different, more detailed feasibility study and a new set of legal documents should be prepared to cover
the case of a regional non-governmental reinsurance company.
7.
The general debate that followed clearly demonstrated that an over- whelming majority of the participating countries favoured the establishment of an intergovernmental corporation as proposed in the draft agreement, which in their opinion, interpreted very correctly the intentions of most Asian Governments. The advantages of the intergovernmental solution were emphasized by many зpeakers, in particular the fact that this solution combined in an
...
viable venture, much to the benefit of all participating countries and of Asia
as a whole.