Finnish ambassador visits PSX

KARACHI: Rauli Suikkanen, the ambassador of Finland, paid a courtesy visit to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Thursday.

He was accompanied with Hertta Alava, Director Emerging Market Funds of a major Finnish Investment Bank, FIM Finland and Sadia Khan, Honorary Consul General of Finland.

Muneer Kamal, chairman of the PSX Board, and Muhammad Rafique Umer, officiating managing director of PSX, welcomed the delegates.

Other directors of the exchange, Moin M Fudda, Muhammad Yasin Lakhani, CEO of NCCPL, Muhammad Lukman, as well as management team members were also present on the occasion.

After initiating the trading session at the PSX with the opening bell ceremony, Suikkanen held a meeting with the members of the board and the management.

Kamal highlighted the improved economic situation of Pakistan and key developments at the PSX, including demutualisation, integration of three stock exchanges, new product development, investor awareness campaign, improved outlook for listing of new companies and expected re-designation of the PSX from the MSCI’s Frontier Market Index to Emerging Market Index by the middle of the current year.

He expressed the hope that considering the overall environment in the country duly improved and business-friendly, there is enormous potential to attract Finnish investment in Pakistan.

The ambassador said that the financial sector development, including the capital markets is a major indicator of economic development.

He was impressed by the reforms in Pakistan's capital market, particularly the stellar performance of Pakistan Stock Exchange in the last few months.