Mr Yoshihiro Kawai, Board Chair of SEADRIF Insurance Company (SDI), was invited to participate at the Third ASEAN+3 Task Force (TF) Meeting. The meeting was held in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, on 11 July 2023. At the request of JMOF, Mr Kawai also represented the broader SEADRIF Initiative. The meeting covered important ASEAN+3 collaborations from the finance track. At the Disaster Risk Financing (DRF) session, Mr Kawai presented SDI’s strategy and recent development. JMOF and IMOF presented the preliminary idea on the implementation framework for the broader newly established ASEAN+3 Disaster Risk Financing and Insurance (DRFI) initiative, including collaboration with ASEAN Disaster Risk Finance and Insurance initiative (ADRFI) and governance of SDI for TF members’ consideration.
The TF meeting has seen political commitment to the DRF agenda through regional collaboration.
In May 2022, at the 25th Financial Ministries’ and Central Bank Governors’ Meeting, the concept paper prepared by Working Group 3 (WG3) was acknowledged to conduct a detailed study among ASEAN+3 members with the aim to launch a new ASEAN+3 initiative on DRF, building on the existing regional initiatives. After 1 year of preparation and rounds of discussion with ASEAN + 3 members, under the leadership of JMOF, WG3 has completed its mission. The 2023-2025 Action Plan of the ASEAN + 3 Disaster Risk Financing Initiative was endorsed at the 26th Financial Ministries’ and Central Bank Governors’ Meeting held recently on 2 May 2023. DRF has been upgraded as a regular agenda under the ASEAN+3 finance track.
The TF meeting was a critical milestone to the development of the new ASEAN+3 DRFI initiative. The next TF meeting will be in September. More updates soon.