The 16th annual conference of the African Securities Exchanges Association (ASEA), hosted this year by the Egyptian Exchange (EGX) with participation of the Arab stock exchanges union, the Federation of the Euro‐Asian Stock Exchanges (FEAS), the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE) and South Asian Federation of Exchanges (SAFE), held its annual conference from 3‐4 December 2012 in Cairo Egypt.
The opening session was held with the participation of H.E. Dr. Hisham Kandil ‐ Egyptian Prime Minister, Mr. Ossama Saleh ‐ Egyptian Minister of Investment, a group of African stock markets’ heads and a number of major international financial institutions’ representatives.
The Prime Minister stated that the government announced, two weeks ago, its economic and social reform plan including solutions and studied plans to face all challenges faced by Egypt could exploit its actual capabilities. He pointed that Egypt reached a preliminary agreement with IMF concerning the national program for economic and social reform which comes as a part of preparations for a loan worth $4.8 billion to support the Egyptian economy.
Kandil said that Africa is full of undiscovered investment opportunities, stressing that it’s time that our continent moves forward to get its rightful place on the international economy map. The Prime Minister stated that Egypt is strengthening cooperation with its African partners, through technical assistance as well as implementing joint promising projects.
He ensured his confidence in Africa's ability to become a leading economic power, as the estimates showed the possibility to achieve about 5% up of the continent's growth rate by the year 2016 which is higher than the rate expected for Eastern and Central Europe, Latin America, USA and Japan.
Mr. Ossama Saleh, Investment Minister said that EGX hosting ASEA conference in Cairo this year does not only reflect the importance and weight of this event but also sends positive messages about the stability of the Egyptian market now.
Saleh pointed out that the Ministry of Investment is monitoring the investment opportunities and available projects and is studying them in various African countries. Moreover it works to overcome the obstacles faced by Egyptian businessmen when they establish their projects in Africa. He pointed out that the participation of Prime Minister reflects the clear governmental message for the Egyptian interested policy towards Africa, stressing that the trend towards the continent during the next phase will be serious, productive and more practical.
Dr. Mohammed Omran, EGX Chairman ensured that Africa has promising investment opportunities not yet explored, pointing out that African financial markets experienced significant growth and prosperity over the past period to become one of the most attractive markets for investment in the world.
Omran said that the total capital in the African securities markets exceeds $1.3 trillion by end of 2011. The presence of potential capabilities attracting investments is confirmed by the growth rates achieved by the African economies ranging between 5 to 6% making it one of the most important areas to attract investments in the coming period.
The EGX chairman clarified that the linking process between Africa Exchanges, if implemented, will contribute to attract African investments to the local market. It will also attract large segment of African customers and investors. He said that the conference plans on setting standards for the index measuring the African exchanges performance on a daily basis.
Mr. Sunil Benimadu, CEO of ASEA showed that African markets experienced a series of economic variables during the past five years, which enabled them to occupy an advanced position among other continents. He said that ASEA 2012 conference aims to support the existence of strong links between African exchanges and the infrastructure existent in most of their markets. Additionally, the conference will invite major companies located in the continent to list their shares on African stock markets.
During his participation in the conference, Mr. Charles Bomah, African Development Bank vice president, stated that the African markets witnessed a significant shift on the economic level during the current period, which represents a motivation to support the transition of Africa and stimulate economic integration between the economies of the region by focusing on innovative financing aspects, especially after changing some regimes in many countries.