Insurance officials from Iran and Iraq explored prospects for building cooperation and starting a joint insurance companies.
Gholamreza Soleimani, head of the Central Insurance company of Iran, and Israa Saleh Daoud, director of Iraqi insurance company, Diwan, met Tuesday in Tehran.
Agreement was reached to boost cooperation in travel and health insurance and organize training courses, IRIB reported.
"Iran on average hosts four 4 million Iraqi tourists annually and large numbers of Iranians travel to the neighboring Arab country every year mostly for pilgrimage.
Soleimani said providing quality service to visitors is a key part of the two-way planned cooperation.
"We are keen on working closely to provide services to Iranian companies in Iraq and transportation insurance," he said.
Saleh Daoud said she is optimistic about the effect of the agreement on Iraq’s insurance industry expressed interest in building strong ties with Iranian insurers.
Iraq’s Market
Iranian companies are active in Iraq for almost two decades. Twenty-five percent of the import market in that country is reportedly held by Iranian companies. Iranian goods make up an estimated $10 billion of the total $40 billion of Iraqi imports per annum.
A total of 17.6 million tons of goods worth $5 billion were exported to Iraq in the first seven months of the current Iranian year (March 20-Oct. 21), which made the Arab neighbor Iran’s biggest export destination during the period,
However, lack of proper insurance cover has caused huge risks for Iranian companies dealing with Iraq. Kalleh Company, a major dairy, food and beverage company, was once one of the largest Iranian players there.
Nearly 90% of the Kalleh's plant in Karbala was destroyed by fire last year. The fire caused over $80 million in damage to the company whose officials then said the factory had no insurance.
Iranian insurers have long expressed interest in entering Iraq. Moallem Insurance Company was the first Iranian company to open in the neighboring country.
Recently, Saman Insurance Company also announced that it has extended its frontier by launching a subsidiary insurance company in Iraq to promote bilateral trade by offering incentive to exporters and businesses in Iraq and provide insurance to Iranians visitors.
