His Excellency Shaikh Mohammed bin Essa Al-Khalifa have addressed the AON’s 10th Middle East Energy Conference held in Manama on Tuesday. He welcomed the leaders in the energy and insurance sector, and shared with them his thoughts on the role of insurance in building trust, and developing strong business ethics that enables commerce to deal with change.
AON has been running its energy forums since 1994. The corporation, a global provider of risk management services and insurance, has chosen to hold this year’s event in Bahrain, the centre of the region’s insurance industry.
“Bahrain is proud to have had a significant role in the success of the oil industry and is equally proud of its track record of looking beyond oil to a future based on diversity and the ability to adapt to change,” Shaikh Mohammed told the conference in an opening remark.
Bahrain hosts the largest and most established financial services centre in the region with, more than 400 licensed financial institutions, and over four decades of experience.
In recent years, many international insurers have developed their regional Middle East operations here in Bahrain. Well-known names such as AIG, ACE, Allianz Group, Hannover Re, Legal & General and Lloyd’s brokers PWS have chosen Bahrain as the optimum location for their operations
“Bahrain national skilled workforce can support the diversification of our economy without the need to rely solely on expatriate labour,” Shaikh Mohammed added.
He said 67% of the financial services workforce are Bahraini and 57% of jobs added by financial institutions during 2008 were taken up by Bahrainis, making the number of national workers employed in the sector to nearly 10,000.
Shaikh Mohammed said the insurance sector in the Middle East has great potential of growth, giving an example that in Bahrain itself, the insurance industry has been growing steadily and strongly, growing by 6% in 2009, despite the global crisis.
Successful diversification of the Bahrain economy and the commitment to reform is part of Bahrain’s national economic strategy, aligned behind achieving the ambitions of Bahrain’s Vision 2030, which was launched by His Majesty King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa and is being led by the Economic Development Board under the guidance of its Chairman His Royal Highness Prince Salman Bin Hamad Al-Khalifa, the Crown Prince.
