December 5, 2003	Friday	Shawwal 10, 1424

LAHORE, Dec 4: Pakistan and India may sign a bilateral memorandum of understanding (MoU) to pave the way for and facilitate cross-border listing of their companies on each other’s stock exchanges.

This was stated by Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan chairman Dr Tariq Hasan while talking to reporters at the conclusion of a two-day theme conference of the South Asian Federation of Exchanges (SAFE) here on Thursday.

Lahore Stock Exchange (LSE) chairman Naeem A Khan was elected as new chairman of the SAFE for the next term.

The SECP chief sought to dispel the impression that there existed any hurdles in the way of signing of an MoU between the two neighbours for facilitating cross-border listing of companies.

“India is already a signatory of a multilateral International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) MoU on cross-border listing of companies. Once Pakistan signs it, we would also become part of that multilateral agreement which would remove the snags in the way of cross-border listing. However, we may sign a bilateral MoU with India before signing the multilateral MoU,” Dr Hasan said. But he did not say as to when would that bilateral MoU may be signed.

The SECP chairman brushed aside the fears that India, being a bigger economy, would dominate the Pakistani capital markets once cross-border listing was allowed.

“This is not correct. We must not be scared of such a thing. Instead, we should become part of globalization by removing our weaknesses and strengthening our regulations,” he said.

Meanwhile, the three stock exchanges of Pakistan signed an MoU each with the Chitagong Stock Exchange and Colombo Stock Exchange for sharing information and increasing cooperation. The SECP also signed an MoU with its Sri Lankan counterpart for the same purpose.

New SAFE chairman Naeem Khan told reporters that these MoUs were the first step towards the ultimate objective of facilitating cross-border listing of companies of the SAFE member countries.

He said no MoU was signed with the Indians because the delegate who attended the conference did not have the blessings of his regulators.

The SAFE members also issued a joint communique at the end of the conference.