RIYADH: Camel owners in Saudi Arabia will now be able to get insurance for transporting their animals within the country.
The news comes following an agreement announced on Monday between the Saudi Camel Club and the Insurance House Co.
The IHC will handle the process of compensating policyholders for road accidents or camel deaths during transportation, boarding, and disembarking from vehicles during a journey.
The insurance policy covers the transportation of camels by road and protects against full or partial loss and related costs.
The club announced the deal in Riyadh in the presence of camel owners, insurance companies, specialists, and industry leaders.
Bandar Al-Qahtani, executive director of the Camel Club, said the sector had great ambitions and was taking new steps toward a more prosperous future, adding that it had become a promising economic driver and important development pillar, as statistics had shown.
Figures put the estimated value of the sector at SR50 billion ($13.33 billion), with investment on the rise, and the number of camels in the Kingdom in excess of 1.8 million.
Al-Qahtani highlighted the organizational efforts and provision of development solutions to serve camel owners and enthusiasts, moves that had been backed by King Salman, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and the chairman of the club’s board of directors, Fahad bin Falah Hathlin.
The club had held events and launched initiatives to create a supportive environment for the camel sector, he said, including wathiqah (document it), a service for the conservation of camel breeds.
He pointed out that the club was also celebrating the launch of the amminha (insure it) service for camels which are considered a national and historical treasure deserving of attention and care.
Samer Raslan, IHC co-founder, said amminha had been implemented in collaboration with the club after two years of development and was a preliminary step toward providing insurance products that covered the risks of transporting camels in relation to their perceived value.
Raslan added that camel owners could go through the insurance process without the need for human intervention.
