The world’s leading figures in trade, export and commodity financing gathered in Dubai to discuss the huge opportunities available within the Middle East region at Exporta’s 8th Annual Trade & Export Finance Conference, which took place at the Jumeirah Beach Hotel on February 21-22, 2011.

The event was inaugurated by Her Excellency Sheikha Lubna Bint Khalid Al Qasimi, Minister of Foreign Trade for the Government of the United Arab Emirates, who delivered a keynote address focusing on the emergence of the UAE at the world’s leading trade hub, assessing future trade growth prospects, the role of exports in fuelling development and the strategic importance of the wider region.

As a region of crucial economic and geopolitical significance, the conference welcomed in addition to 230 delegates from across the region, key trading allies such as Europe and the US, along with representatives from other key emerging markets such as Asia and Africa.

The conference combined informed content with engaged discussion and debate. Mr. Karim Nasrallah, Managing Director of LCI, discussed the assessment of the latest trends in risk coverage across the Gulf.
He announced that the Levant region has experienced a less important drop in demand and liquidity gaps as the rest of the world.
The current situation has triggered a raise in demand for credit insurance due to an increase in awareness.
Large credit insurers in Europe have put many countries in the region off-cover (Lebanon, Syria, Egypt…). However credit insurers in the region such as LCI, being closer to the risks, still cover the risks within these countries nevertheless, a steering of risk approach and strategy remains necessary.
Regarding the growth of additional value-added services provided by credit insurance companies, Mr. Nasrallah explained that LCI has recently witnessed an increase in demand for its ancillary products such as credit reports, rating services and debt collection.

Finally, Mr. Nasrallah concluded regarding the severity of the problems faced in the GCC that, “being from the Middle East and from Lebanon specifically, we became somehow used to do business in difficult circumstances. Therefore we should not let the risks of instability influence plans otherwise what would be the point of living and doing business in the region”.