Members of the Committee had a meeting with a delegation of leading reinsurance companies of Europe on respective invitation of the Agricultural Insurance Pool.
Head of the Committee Serhii Rybalka noted that today Ukraine is facing problems. Combat activities and economic crisis are underway. “Thus, in these complicated conditions, the agricultural sector is of priority as it regenerates revenues of the budget. To speed up its development, budget assistance should be applied successfully,” the people's deputy said.
Rybalka pointed out that the Committee is ready to take active part in lawmaking to ensure transparent system of insurance in the agricultural sector with the participation of the state. He said the state assistance through insurance is one of the most effective forms of assistance to farmers all over the world and corresponds to standards of the World Trade Organization.
Representatives of the Agricultural Insurance Pool and the National Commission for Regulation of Financial Services Markets agreed to elaborate a draft law taking in account conclusions and recommendations of European experts. According to participants of the meeting, despite considerable potential of Ukraine in agriculture, the development of the sector is hampered by absence of investments, and effective system of agricultural insurance does not only encourage the farmers, but also simplifies their access to loan funds.
A spokesperson of one of the largest reinsurance companies in Europe — Bruno Sforni, which is the leader in the insurance market of Italy, expects that in 1.5-2 years, brand new agricultural insurance system will be created in Ukraine in case respective legislative base is created. In autumn 2015, it is planned to implement first pilot projects for agricultural insurance of small and mid-sized farmers.
In turn, a representative of Swiss Re, one of the world’s largest reinsurance companies, expressed confidence in prospects of development of agriculture in Ukraine. He said Ukraine only has to bring its legislation in line with the terms of the EU and implement a number of projects. The projects he said will envision the introduction of new insurance products such as index insurance, his company uses in many countries. He said that use of statistics data on changes in climate or the amount of harvest in calculation of single indexes for the agrarian insurance market will lower expenditures, exclude corruption and automate the process itself.
The participants of the meeting agreed to jointly elaborate the draft law for modernization of the Law on agricultural insurance with state assistance, which was adopted in 2012. According to Head of the Committee Serhii Rybalka, the legislative amendments should recognize the terms of the EU Laws, raise transparency of the agrarians’ insurance market and make this market more competitive.