Covid-19 changes AIDA engagement

by Chris Rodd, AIDA representative for Australia

While holidaying in Europe, including northern Italy in mid-February, little did we expect what was to follow within a week or so of our arrival.

My wife’s speaking engagement at a conference in Florence was cancelled and the rest of the very abridged trip seemed to involve escaping from Covid-19 hotspots, before returning home virus free.

Few of us could envisage the storm to come which, mercifully, Australia seems to have dealt with remarkably well.

From an AIDA standpoint, there have been many changes to the way we engage. All meetings this year have been cancelled, including the two Presidential Council meetings in Mexico in June and Pretoria in October. An AIDA Europe meeting scheduled for Zurich in July has also been shelved. However AIDA continues to function.

The AIDA executive is holding meetings on a monthly basis via Zoom and, despite the fact that for your Australian representative it entails a 5am start, it is working extremely well, given its limitations. The meeting, chaired by President Peggy Sharon, from Israel, includes the USA, the UK, Uruguay, Brazil, South Africa, and Australia.

While the time zones are a challenge, we are confining the meetings to no more than an hour. Regrettably, while it would be ideal if it could be achieved, the numbers involved preclude a full Presidential Council meeting of 35+ people from all member countries.

We are endeavoring to keep AIDA active on the educational front and are pursuing projects involving AIDA questionnaires, such as the alternative dispute resolution working party on ombudsman’s schemes and the climate change WP projects.

In light of the pandemic, we are updating the website with details about the insurance coverage response to Covid-19 in various AIDA jurisdictions and litigation arising. We are also reporting on how the courts in each country are responding and how they are operating to handle litigation during the crisis.

At this stage, and in the absence of a vaccine, it seems unlikely AIDA will hold any international conferences or meetings, which casts doubt on the Latin American meeting in April-May 2021, however no decision has been made yet.

I will continue to keep you up dated though reports on the AILA website and we encourage all members to visit the AIDA site, www.aidainsurance.org.