industry would to a large extent depend upon the capability of those working in the industry - their skill set, expertise and competency. unfortunately for all of us, similar to other emerging economies, there is a scarcity of qualified and well trained personnel to meet the growing and increasingly complex needs of the industry. therefore human capital development should not be viewed as an expense but as an investment for the future. without such investment, our insurance industries will not be able to quickly make the leap forward and we risk losing the opportunities to players from more sophisticated economies that are ready on the sides to take advantage of our inadequacies. on this note, i am pleased to note that in the short span since its establishment in december 2004, the asean insurance training and research institute, or aitri, has successfully conducted technical training and seminars on insurance for over 200 insurance regulators, supervisors and practitioners to date. aitri has also received recognition from international organisations such as the international association of insurance supervisors and first initiative for the training programmes that were conducted. despite its limited capacity and funding, aitri has continued to serve as the regional network centre for insurance education and research, providing opportunities for regulators to meet, learn and share experiences. i wish to urge asean countries to leverage on aitri as the regional platform for greater interaction and collaboration and continue to provide support to enable the institute to expand and play the role expected of it. in addition to building capacity within our own respective economies, there is great potential for the asean insurance industry to increase our competitiveness as a region in order to retain a greater share of the insurance business particularly in reinsurance and underwriting of large, specialised risk which traditionally flows out of the region. in order to increase our capacity and expertise to underwrite such risks, greater collaboration in the form of technical assistance and information sharing are important. great value can be derived from the pooling of experiences and resources to develop our own probability models which will enable us to better price risks based on the unique characteristics of our region. through such collaboration, the ability for the insurance industries in asean to underwrite and reinsure risks to serve the needs of the asean businesses and individuals can be significantly enhanced. in this regard, i would like to encourage the industry to work together with the regulators to explore ideas to build our capabilities and capacities as well as enhance our competitiveness towards developing a robust insurance industry in the region. to further support the development of asean's insurance industry, initiatives to harmonise standards across

mohd razif bin abd kadir : unlocking opportunities opening address by mr mohd razif bin abd kadir, deputy governor of the central bank of malaysia, at the 10th asean insurance regulators meeting and 33rd asean insurance council meeting, kuala lumpur, 15 november 2007. * * * it is my great pleasure to be here today at the 10th asean insurance regulators meeting and the 33rd asean insurance council meeting in kuala lumpur. let me first extend a warm welcome and " selamat datang " to all the delegates from abroad as well as to fellow malaysians here today. during this “ [UNK] malaysia year ” which is also the year of malaysia's 50th anniversary celebrations of our independence, i do hope that our foreign delegates will make time to enjoy malaysia's diverse culture and the many unique sights, sounds and flavours. i am indeed honoured to be officiating the opening of the 10th asean insurance regulators meeting and the 33rd asean insurance council meeting. i understand that several fruitful meetings and exchange of ideas have already taken place yesterday, and several meetings have been outlined over the next two days to discuss various matters, revolving around the theme towards moving the asean insurance industry forward. the asean region has recorded significant growth with member countries growing at an average rate of 6 % in 2006. asean countries have grown stronger and our trade and cooperation have expanded further. building on these existing strong linkages, asean is expected to further progress in deepening and broadening its economic pie within asean and in the region. the asean region as a group accounted for approximately 8. 3 % of asia's total gdp in recent years and generated around 22 % of asia's total export, placing the region second behind china, asia's largest exporter. in 2006, asean foreign direct investment rose by 27 % to reach usd52 billion and total exports increased by 16. 5 % to reach usd758. 04 billion. trade among asean countries has also increased tremendously. in fact for malaysia, our trade with the asean region comprised about 25 % of our total trade. as we move towards afta and the removal of tariffs, the economic integration between countries in the region will deepen further. the encouraging economic growth prospects of asean present tremendous growth potential and opportunities for the asean insurance market. this increases the need to accelerate the development of insurance markets in the region to support the explosive growth in trade within asean. over time, the aim should be to achieve a better balance between