A major insurance company based in the Middle East intends to expand its reinsurance operations into Bermuda.Qatar Insurance Company has embarked on a five-year plan, which includes setting up operations for its reinsurance arm in Bermuda and Zurich.The company intends to open these new Q-Re operations before the end of the year.Economic Development Minister Grant Gibbons said yesterday: “We are pleased to see a leading Gulf-Region insurer increasing its presence in Bermuda and bringing top quality capital to our island.”Qatar Insurance Company is no stranger to the Island. It already has a presence as an institutional investor in CATCo Investment Management and CATCo-Re, a Class 3 reinsurance operation.News of Q-Re’s intended expansion has been welcomed by Business Bermuda’s CEO Cheryl Packwood.She said: “Business Bermuda and the Government have been active in developing relationships in the Middle East and Gulf that are necessary to creating new business opportunities in Bermuda and broadening our base of business.“The establishment of Q-Re is an outgrowth those efforts and reflects the need for continued investment in international business marketing and promotion in key markets around the globe.“We met with the president of Qatar Insurance Company two years ago. He was exuberant over Bermuda and looked forward to a long-term relationship with our jurisdiction.”Ms Packwood most recently took a Business Bermuda delegation to Bahrain and Dubai in December to promote the Island as an Islamic finance hub. And in October 2012 then-Premier Paula Cox led a party to the Arabian Gulf, which included a meeting with the prime minister of Qatar, Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani.Last November’s Throne Speech described the former government’s intention to attract “business, capital and visitors’ from the Gulf Cooperation Council region, and stated the Qatar prime minister had told Ms Cox: “Qatar wishes to find win-win opportunities to partner with Bermuda.”Qatar Insurance Company (QIC) hired New York-based global consultants Oliver Wayman to advise on its future expansion and diversification. QIC’s board of directors have reviewed and approved a five-year plan that has now started and is projected to direct the company’s future until 2017.This year will see the second phase in the development of the QIC’s reinsurance company Q-Re. Q-Re was set up in 2009 as a wholly-owned subsidiary, and is backed by a full parental guarantee by QIC, which is capitalised at approximately $1 billion.The new phase in Q-Re’s expansion will see the establishment of “branches and representative offices in three of the reinsurance centres of the globe, which is Zurich, London and Bermuda,” QIC reported in a statement.“During the second half of 2012 Q-Re started to work on improving its team through recruiting an elite group of underwriters specialised in international risks, this team is supported with expert actuaries, Cat modelling specialists and professionals.”At QIC’s annual general meeting, held last Sunday in Doha, deputy chairman Abdullah bin Khalifa Al Attiyah said the company was in the process of establishing its teams for its Zurich and Bermuda operations, according to a report in the Qatar Tribune.Doha-based Q-Re currently has a branch in Zurich and a representative office in London. It is striving to double the company’s size, chairman Sheikh Khalid bin Mohammed bin Ali Al-Thani stated in QIC’s board of directors’ report.QIC, which was founded in 1964, made a net profit of QR610 million ($167m) in 2012.