Egyptian Stock Exchange Cairo - Mohi al-Kardousi   The 16th Annual Conference of the African Federation of Exchanges was hosted by the Egyptian Stock Exchange on Tuesday. This year\'s event was attended by the Union of Arab Stock Exchanges, the Eurasian Federation of Exchanges and the South Asian Federation of Exchanges, which also held its annual General Assembly in Cairo.
In his conference opening speech, Egyptian Prime Minister Dr Hisham Kandil explained that he government had mapped out its social and economic reform agenda, having considered potential solutions to deal with the challenges facing Egypt. He also confirmed news of the government\'s initial agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on the national program for economic and social reform, which includes payment of a loan worth $4.8bn to support the Egyptian economy.
Kandil went on to say that the African continent is full of untapped investment opportunities, stressing that Egypt is determined to strengthen its cooperation with partners in the African continent through technical assistance, and implementation of joint projects.He also targetted five percent regional growth in the continent by 2016. \"This rate is higher than the growth rate for Eastern and Central Europe, Latin America, the United States, and Japan,\" he said.
Egyptian Investment Minister Osama Saleh said that hosting the conference of African stock markets in the Egyptian Stock Exchange was an important milestone and showed Egypt is in the process of economic growth and stability.
Saleh stressed the role of the Ministry of Investment in monitoring investment opportunities across Africa and helping Egyptian businessmen overcome any obstacles they face when establishing their projects in African countries.
Dr Mohammed Omran, Chairman of the Egyptian Stock Exchange told the conference that Africa had many promising investment opportunities which were yet to be exploited. He added that in totality, warheads funds for African markets exceeded $1.3tr. He said that the growth rates achieved by African economies ranged between 5 to 6 percent, making the region an attractive proposition for investment in the future.
Sunil Benyaamado, head of the African Federation of Exchanges said that African markets occupied a leading position among the other continents. \"The conference aims to support the strong links between the continent\'s markets and invites major companies located in the continent to list its shares on African stock markets,\" he added.