Azerbaijan, Baku, 20 June / Trend A.Akhundov /
Azerbaijan will continue to strengthen the legal and institutional framework for the development of the insurance sector, Azerbaijan's Finance Minister Samir Sharifov said during a speech at the fourth International Insurance Forum in Baku on Thursday.
"The growth and development of the insurance sector is closely linked to the economic situation in the country. During the last 10 years, Azerbaijan's GDP tripled, the poverty rate declined six-fold and foreign reserves and investments in the economy seriously increased. Such a situation has beneficial effects and in particular on the development of the insurance sector," Sharifov said.
According to him, in the past two years, the insurance sector in Azerbaijan has doubled, the market volume reached 350 million manat in 2012 and the insurance premium per capita increased from seven manat to 47 manat.
"The market is growing at a good pace of about 20 per cent a year," Sharifov said.
The insurance forum held in Baku is a good platform for the expansion of ties between insurers and reinsurers from different countries, he added.
"This forum is dedicated to not only the prospects of development of the insurance market of Azerbaijan, but at the same time is a good tool for establishing business relationships between insurance companies. Interest in the forum is growing from year to year," Sharifov said.
According to the chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Economic Policy Ziyad Samadzadeh, who also spoke at the forum, the growth rate of the insurance sector in Azerbaijan has seriously exceed the growth rate of the economy. The market has the potential to increase to one billion manat in 2020, according to Samadzadeh.
However he said, there is still a need to work towards the improvement of mechanisms in the insurance market, its structure and in particular in the field of agricultural insurance.