6th Meeting of Union of Arab Securities Authorities (UASA) Opens

Doha , February 06 (QNA) - The 6th Meeting of Union of Arab Securities Authorities (UASA) hosted by the Qatar Financial Markets Authority (QFMA) kicked off here Monday with the participation of a number of Arab Securities Authorities figures from eleven different Arab countries. Governor of Qatar Central Bank,HE Sheikh Abdullah bin Saud Al Thani opened the meeting and delivered a welcome address of the senior guests . CEO of Qatar Financial Markets Authority Nasser Al Shaibi, and Abdullah bin Salem Al Salmi, Acting CEO of Sultanate of Oman Capital Market Authority, Chairman of the current meeting of the Union and the Secretary General of the Union of Arab Securities Authorities addressed the opening session. During the meeting a number of UASA participants reiterated that the current world political situation including global financial crisis, and Arab political events affect the Arab Market unevenly. CEO of Qatar Financial Markets Authority ,Nasser Al Shaibi, stated that the UASA is going through a shifting phase. The previous phase should be evaluated and the next one should be looked at strategically. Replying a question on the constraints facing the Arab Market, and ways of resolving them, Al Shaibi stressed that the UASA is currently discussing ways and techniques of cooperating with the Arab Market that is considered to be one of the crucial points to be taken up in the upcoming time. He stressed that finding unified or merging legislations will boost Arab investments and capital market's trading between Arab countries and that the UASA is looking forward such step but only needs time to be pursued due to the variant legislations' environment in the Arab countries. For his part , Secretary general of UASA, Dr. Saleh Al Halyan said that not all countries were affected by the Arab events like Egypt that witnessed a decrease in its financial market yet with no severe effect whereas other Arab countries were effected deeply as Libya s stock market that is still closed down. Meanwhile Hassan Boulaknadal, General Manager of Moroccan Securities and foreign transaction council, said that foreign tracings in the Casablanca Stock Exchange have recorded a back off due to the EURO crisis in addition to this some local investors preferred investing in bonds and withdrawing their money out of Stock tracings. Boulaknadal added that Morocco has witnessed a back off in foreign investments, including direct economic sector investments and financial market. Hassan Boulaknadal, General Manager of Moroccan Securities and foreign transaction council noted that Qatari investments in Morocco are only confined to field of energy and construction, expressing hope that Qataris would have a newer scope to the Casablanca stock Market under the new reformations that heralds a bright future. On the other hand, Barraq Adly Nabulsi, acting chairman of Palestinian capital market authority, said that the Palestinian market has different circumstances other than all Arab markets as it is hindered by the Israeli interference that limits investors and companies from investing at the Palestenian financial market. He stressed that the Qatari role in the Palestinian- Israeli reconciliation could assist in creating a new national government with a new legislature council that could bring about new laws in favour of Palestenian financial market. In statement to QNA, CEO of the Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority, Dr. Ashraf El Sharkawy, said that unifying systems and procedures could facilitate the process to any Arab company to offer whatever it needs in any other country, this will be the main goal of the UASA. He made clear that the suggestion of a unified Arab Stock market is an old one that came before the rise of communication technology available nowadays. "We do not need a unified place. Any investor can trade in stocks in more than a financial market from his own office regardless of the Arab Stock papers. Yet, we are more in need of a unified law and agreed upon terms so as to carry out trading through different means of communications." Al Sharkawy