The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in cooperation with the National Agency of Perspective Projects of the Republic of Uzbekistan, organized a round table discussion and presented an analytical report on the topic “Baseline review on Takaful insurance system and implementation recommendation”.
The main goal of conducting the round table meeting is to present the report on Takaful insurance to the insurance market regulator, insurance companies and other representatives of the insurance industry. Moreover, the organization of the round table meeting gives an opportunity to discuss this important topic with the insurance industry and relevant professionals.
The round table was held on December 6, 2024, in Tashkent with the participation of more than 40 participants representing the National Agency of Perspective Projects, the Association of Professional Participants of the Insurance Market, insurance companies, the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), the International Islamic Academy, the Committee on Religious Affairs, the Muslim Board of Uzbekistan, the Association of Actuaries, and other agencies from the government and the private sector.
During the discussions, the relevance of the topic, expected market size of takaful, and minimum required legislative framework was taken note of to start the process of the takaful insurance. Regulation and control of the activities of the takaful fund, the role of insurance companies, the regulator, and the Sharia Supervisory Board.
Latif Zokirov, Head of the Department for Development and Digitalization of the Insurance Market, the National Agency of Perspective Projects noted:
“Takaful insurance has strengths, risks and needs to be regulated and controlled by the government. This round table is one of the first steps in capacity building and sharing knowledge of new ideas and suggestions.”
Abror Mukhitdinov, Actuary, UNDP Expert highlighted:
96% of the people of Uzbekistan are Muslims. The Takaful insurance market has a big opportunity in Uzbekistan, such as attracting temporarily free funds of Muslims who do not use existing financial instruments, attracting investments into the insurance sector of the republic from countries and funds that adhere to Islamic principles of financing.
The round table was supported within the framework of the UNDP global project “Insurance Risk Finance Facility (IRFF) in Uzbekistan” financed by the German government, the main objective of which is to provide support to countries participating in the project in the development of the insurance market of Uzbekistan, including: integration of insurance policy into the country’s economic development program, development of inclusive insurance, financing sovereign risks, risks from natural disasters, attracting additional investments in the insurance industry, etc.