Asian reinsurers ended their second Summit, this time in Tokyo, with a strong call to enhance co-operation among members to strengthen regional co-operation.

CEOs of nine leading Asian reinsurance companies including from China, India, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Thailand agreed that in the wake of a changing reinsurance market, Asian reinsurers should intensify efforts to further enhance co-operation among the member companies to ensure sound development for Asian reinsurance industry through optimising reliance upon indigenous resources both financial and human within Asia.

The first inaugural meeting held in the first half of the 2001 in China provided the launching platform for Asian reinsurers to discuss avenues for focused regional co-operation in an increasingly globalised market-place. The second meeting was hosted by Toa Re, and the third Summit will be hosted by the GIC in 2003.

Commenting on the outcome of the second Summit which appointed Singapore Reinsurance Corp's insurancesupermart.com portal as the centre to house the data exchange of the Asian professional reinsurers' Summit, a spokesman for the Group said the Summit was a welcomed initiative that allowed the Asian reinsurers to explore various avenues for co-operation and be able to share available resources for mutual benefits.

The meeting provided an opportunity for greater bilateral contacts and business exchanges among the summiteers. The CEOs touched on a wide range of topics ranging from market overviews to business realities in insurance and reinsurance market, effects of globalisation and liberalisation on the local insurance market and measurers of enhancing regional co-operation. The momentum generated by the Summit will be sustained into the future as the Asian professional reinsurers see mutual benefits in such regional meetings that can ultimately lead to real business potential beyong just regional co-operation dynamics. There is already talk of technology initiatives, staff exchanges and the feasibility study of a tariff exchange. They agreed that the Summit meeting should be held annually to provide more opportunities for further interaction on a face-to-face basis among the participating companies.