Sri Lanka to host South Asian Investment Conference in April
Friday, 13 March 2015 01:45
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The South Asian Federation of Exchanges (SAFE) in collaboration with the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) announced that Sri Lanka will be hosting the South Asian Investment Conference on 27 April.
Aimed at promoting investment in South Asian markets – a region which recorded 6.7% average growth between 2000 and 2012 according to World Bank data – the conference will focus on improvement of cross-border capital market linkages, the cultivation of a favourable environment for cross border listing and the harmonisation of regional regulations and standards.
“The conference envisions projecting the investment potential of the region across a diverse audience, aiming to capture the diversity of each market.Conferences such as these are ideal forums to foster regional development across South Asia. The Colombo Stock Exchange is honoured to welcome all participants to Sri Lanka. The Conference of South Asian Stock Exchanges will provide an excellent opportunity to network and share ideas on the common challenges we face as exchanges,” CSE CEO Rajeeva Bandaranaike explained.
The event will also focus on challenges to investment promotion and investor confidence particularly in areas of good governance, transparency and regional cooperation. The investment conference itself will become a regular fixture in the SAFE calendar as part of the organisation’s efforts to collectively represent the value of investment in the region.
The conference is expected to draw delegations from across the SAARC region including a large number of financial and capital market professionals and entities in addition to investors from outside the region.
“As evidenced from the development of regional blocs and multi-national groupings, increased cross border financial activities, trade and economic exchanges are known to create strong intraregional links within an integrated economic region. Multiple success stories of cross border linkages of exchanges in European Union (EU), North America, and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have been witnessed while Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and East African Stock Exchanges are striving to follow this global trend
“In South Asia, efforts have been made to promote intraregional trade, however the intraregional financial integration appears to lag behind due to asymmetric developments in the economic and financial sectors,” SAFE Secretary General Aftab Ahmad noted.
SAFE is a cooperative platform launched by South Asian bourses with the objective of promoting the development and harmonisation of the securities markets in the region. SAFE is a not for profit association recognised by the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), and is a network exchange association of the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE).
SAFE comprises of 28 member entities from the SAARC Region including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka Kazakhstan, Mauritius and the UAE; 14 regional stock and commodity exchanges as Primary Members; six Associate Members comprising of non-regional exchanges, and regional depository and clearing institutions, eight Affiliate Members and four Affiliate Associations.
