EU to Spend EUR 3 Million Developing Russian Insurance Market

The European Commission's Russian mission yesterday held a presentation of the EU's new project aimed at developing the insurance market in Russia. The 'Insurance Advisory Services' project is being financed as part of the Tacis programme, which assists the development of market economies and democracy in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia by providing free experience in various spheres. The Russian partners in the project will be the Finance Ministry's Insurance Supervision Department and the All-Russian Union of Insurers.

Peter Taylor, the head of the project, announced that as part of the programme a number of insurance companies would be chosen to be given consulting services. He said that each company must bear 20% of the costs of individual consultations. The project is intended to run for two years and has a budget of EUR 3 million.

According to Taylor, during implementation of the project 'technical assistance will be provided to prepare the Russian insurance market for further development of the market for financial services in the run up to Russia's entry into the WTO.'