Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- The United Nations Development Program (UNDP), with the National Agency for Perspective Projects of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Association of Professional Participants in the Insurance Market of Uzbekistan, conducted a training for insurance sector specialists on the topic “Climate and Disaster Risk Finance” with the involvement of an international expert.

The main goal of the training is to improve the skills of participants in the insurance market of Uzbekistan, both at the level of government and insurance companies, in “Climate and Disaster Risk Finance”. Taking into account the importance of the training topic, due to the constant increase in risks associated with climate change and the occurrence of natural disasters, an international UNDP expert, Mr. Kamal Ahmed, who has extensive experience in improving the resilience of infrastructure to disasters, climate change and assessing fiscal risks in critical infrastructure. Over the course of two days, he taught fundamentals, financial management, mobilizing finance, prioritization and other areas of climate change and disaster risk.

The training was held on April 18–19, 2024 in Samarkand city with the participation of more than 35 participants representing the National Agency of Perspective Projects, the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Association of Professional Participants of the Insurance Market, the Center for Hydrometeorological Service, insurance companies and other agencies from the government and the private sector.

Moreover, as part of the training, a presentation on the topic “Climate finance and financing for disaster risk reduction” was prepared and demonstrated by the UNDP project “Enhancing Multi-Hazard Early Warning System to increase resilience of Uzbekistan communities to climate change-induced hazards”, which also took an active part in the training.

Positive feedback was received from training participants on the conducted training, it was noted the relevance of the training topic and the knowledge gained with relevant examples based on international practice, an interesting and interactive method of presenting information.

"On behalf of the National Agency for Perspective Projects, I welcome and fully support events with the participation of international organizations and insurance market participants in the development of proposals for diversifying the financing of risks associated with natural disasters and climate change. We hope that in the future, the knowledge gained during the training will be applied in the process of developing a development strategy for insurance companies," said Davron Maksudov, Deputy Director, the National Agency of Perspective Projects

"Climate change poses a serious threat to the economies of all countries, both developed and developing. Insurance is the main method of the risk management system, including the natural risk management system. Therefore, for representatives of insurance companies and actuarial organizations, participation in this event was useful from a practical and theoretical point of view," said Bakhodir Shamsutdinov, Director of the Association of Actuaries of Uzbekistan

"Various risks arising from global climate change, in particular natural disasters, have a significant negative impact on the sustainable development of the world economy. The organization of this training deserves special attention, since it serves to further strengthen the knowledge and skills of specialists in the field of financing risks associated with climate change and natural disasters," noted Khojayor Shennaev, Head of the Insurance and Pension Department, Tashkent State University of Economics

The training was supported as part of UNDP’s global project “Insurance Risk Finance Facility (IRFF) in Uzbekistan” financed by the German government, the main objective of which is to provide support to countries participating in the project in the development of the insurance market of Uzbekistan, including the integration of insurance policy into the country’s economic development program, development of inclusive insurance, financing sovereign risks, risks from natural disasters, attracting additional investments in the insurance industry and others.