World Bank Group Eyes Stronger Global Ties in Trade Insurance

Tokyo, Feb. 1 (Jiji Press)--The Multilateral Investment Guarantee
Agency is considering boosting its ties with trade insurance bodies of
individual countries to shore up flagging investment in developing
countries, the agency's head said in a recent interview.

Izumi Kobayashi, executive vice president, told Jiji Press that
trade insurance bodies in developed countries used to separately offer their
products before the financial crisis because both political and credit risks
were low.
But at present, European and U.S. trade insurance bodies are
proposing to share the risks, Kobayashi said, explaining that there is room
for deeper cooperation between MIGA and each country's insurance body so
that they can jointly develop new products.
She showed a positive stance toward starting linkup negotiations
with Nippon Export and Investment Insurance, Japan's trade insurance body.
MIGA, a member of the World Bank Group, provides insurance to
private-sector companies against noncommercial risks such as war when they
invest in developing countries, in order to promote foreign direct
investment in such countries.
Kobayashi called on Japanese companies to invest more in developing
countries, saying that Japan still is capable of taking risks.
She noted that her agency has seen a drop in cancellations of its
insurance contracts since the latter half of last year as the financial
crisis deepened. This illustrates worries that the financial crisis will
translate into political risks, said Kobayashi.
Kobayashi, who hails from Merrill Lynch Japan Securities Co., took
up the current post at MIGA late last year.