Dhaman Seeks to Promote its Operations in Jordan

A delegation of the Arab Investment & Export Credit Guarantee Corporation (Dhaman), led by its Director-General Mr. Abdullah Ahmad Al-Sabeeh, visited Jordan between February-19-21, 2023, where they tackled with Jordanian officials how the kingdom could make better use of the corporation’s insurance operations, especially for its foreign direct investments (FDIs) and commodity exports, in collaboration and coordination with its concerned bodies.

The Corporation’s Director-General Mr. Abdullah Ahmad Al-Sabeeh said in a press statement on this occasion that during his visit to Jordan, where he was accompanied by Dhaman’s Chief of Operations Mohammad Fatehi Al-Shatti, he had met with Director-General of the Jordan Loan Guarantee Corporation (JLGC) Dr. Mohammed Al-Jafari and company officials, and discussed ways of promoting bilateral cooperation in the field of reinsurance and insurance of the kingdom’s fuel and food imports, as well as encouraging Arab and foreign investment inflows into the kingdom.

Al-Sabeeh added that he had then met with Secretary-General of the Jordanian Ministry of Industry, Trade and Supply Mrs. Dana Al-Zoubi and discussed ways of boosting Dhaman’s insurance support to Jordan through insurance services for its exports and imports, mainly fuel and food.

He said that he had also tackled with Governor of the Central Bank of Jordan Dr. Adel Al-Sharkas how the kingdom could make better use of the corporation’s insurance services in various fields, noting that the bank is the official contact point (OCP) for Dhaman and represents the kingdom in the corporation’s Board of Shareholders, which convenes its annual meeting in April.

As part of the corporation’s endeavor to back the efforts of promoting foreign direct investments into Jordan, Al-Sabeeh met with Secretary-General of the Jordanian Ministry of Investment Mr. Zaher Al-Qatarneh and discussed the corporation’s mechanisms of providing insurance services to Arab and foreign investors in Jordanian economic sectors.

During his stay in Jordan, Al-Sabeeh also met with Secretary-General of the Ministry of Finance Dr. Abdelhakim Al-Shibli on ways of coordination and cooperation in fields pertinent to the corporation’s insurance activity in the Jordanian market, specifically in the field of guaranteeing foreign loans allocated for development projects in the kingdom.

In the context of the corporation’s commitment to bolstering the business sector, Dhaman’s Director-General met with Mohammed Al-Razem, Senior VP Finance and Support Services and CEO of Arab Potash Company (APC), which is the sole potash producer in the Arab world and the eighth largest potash producer worldwide. APC operates under a concession from the Government of Jordan that grants it exclusive rights to extract, manufacture and market minerals from the Dead Sea until 2058.

Al-Sabeeh underlined the corporation’s commitment to boosting the benefit of the member states, including Jordan, from its insurance operations and activities, pointing out that Jordan made use of $1.1 billion’s worth of Dhaman’s insurance for exports and investments into Arab countries, making up 5.3% of its total operations, during the period between 2010 and 2022. The corporation’s total in-force contracts in Jordan hit $100.5 million, accounting for 7.2% of the corporation’s total in-force contracts till the end of 2022.

Al-Sabeeh added that Jordan has been a member of the corporation since 1974 and contributes to its capital, with the central bank representing it at the annual meeting of the corporation’s board of shareholders in April. Throughout its history, the corporation has signed cooperative agreements with many Jordanian bodies, the last of which was an agreement in March 2021 for reinsuring Jordanian export credit with relative shares in favor of the Jordan Loan Guarantee Corporation (JLGC), in collaboration with the Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC), which holds a stake in the agreement.

He added that the corporation, along with the ICIEC, had established Aman Union, which comprises 18 Arab and Islamic insurance bodies, including the Jordan Loan Guarantee Corporation (JLGC), and that it cooperates with concerned agencies in Jordan regarding consultations, research and exchange of required information for its publications such as the Investment Climate Report, and attends conferences and activities in Jordan.

Al-Sabeeh noted that the corporation provides several services for Jordan, mainly including the insurance of outstanding and greenfield Arab and foreign investments, in addition to Jordanian expatriates’ investments, against political risks such as expropriation, nationalization, preventing money transfers, wars, unrest and breach of contract.

The corporation also provides credit insurance services for Jordanian exports, and capital and strategic imports against political and commercial risks such as importer’s bankruptcy, default or non-fulfillment of obligations.

The Jordan Loan Guarantee Corporation (JLGC) was established as a public shareholding company on April 17, 1994. It aims at providing guarantee against the risks of loans granted by commercial banks to small or medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). It acts as the national insurer of Jordanian export credit.