An initial agreement has been inked in Doha, capital of Qatar, on Monday to establish a Qatari- Bahraini insurance firm with a capital of 68.7 million U.S dollars, Kuwait's official KUNA news agency reported.

Under the initial deal, the two countries' national insurance companies would share in the new insurer as cofounders at a rate of 40 percent of its capital, while the remaining percentage would be equally put up for public subscription in the two countries.

The company will be headquartered in Qatar, but it will have a branch office in Bahrain, a Gulf island state.

Bahrain and Qatar are both Gulf Cooperation Council members and the two have become banking and financial services centers in the region after years of development.

Source: Xinhua