Doha Insurance sees good market in Yemen

Doha Insurance chairman Sheikh Nawaf Nasser Bin Khaled Al Thani has said the Qatar-based insurer sees Yemen as a good market for the company and its strategic partners to grow.
“Currently, Yemen looks a very promising market. It is mostly untapped. The only option for Yemen is to go forward, which the country is doing now”,  Sheikh Nawaf said after signing the memorandum of understanding and articles of association for establishing the Yemeni – Qatari Insurance Company.
The Yemeni – Qatari Insurance Company is a joint venture between Doha Insurance and Yemeni investors including Shaher Trading Company and Yemen International Bank.
Doha Insurance would have a 40% stake in the Yemeni-Qatari Insurance Company with a paid up capital of YR 500mn.
At Sana’a, Sheikh Nawaf met Doha Insurance’s strategic partners in the ‘Yemeni – Qatari Insurance Company’. Doha Insurance General Manager Bassam Hussein was also present.
The MoU ceremony was attended among others by Qatar’s Ambassador to Yemen Jassim Bin Abdul Aziz Al Bouainain and head of Yemen’s General Investment Authority, Salah Al Attar.
Hussein told Gulf Times the proposed JV firm would underwrite both general and life insurance risks.
He said, “There is a huge potential to grow traditional insurance business in the country because some of the big merchants in the region are either Yemenis or of Yemeni origin. They have a lot to do with marine cargo, especially food and merchandise. Major Yemeni accounts are currently insured out of Yemen, especially in the London market. This is really a good market for Doha Insurance and its strategic partners to grow,” Hussein said..