Canadian High Commissioner Opens Trading Day At PSX

The High Commissioner of Canada, Ms.Wendy Gilmour and her team visited the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) to open the trading session with the gong ceremony here on Friday

KARACHI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 18th Jan, 2019 ) :The High Commissioner of Canada, Ms.Wendy Gilmour and her team visited the pakistan stock exchange (PSX) to open the trading session with the gong ceremony here on Friday.

Chairman of the board Sulaiman Mehdi, Managing Director Richard Morin, Board Members Ahmed Chinoy and Shehzad Chamdia, and senior management of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) received the guests and led them to the Trading Hall for the ceremony.

Welcoming the guests, the psx team apprised Ms.Gilmour and her team about the role of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) in developing the capital market and the macro-economic impact on the Capital Market.

Opening the trading day, the Canadian High Commissioner thanked the PSX team for inviting her to the ceremony.

The High Commissioner said, "There is a great opportunity for Pakistan - Canada trading relationship for direct merchandise trade, services, and investment in both directions".

She further said, "We are ready and interested to work with Pakistan Business Community and take advantage of the abundant opportunities that Pakistan offers for socio-economic growth with business opportunities in a wide spectrum of industries and economic sectors".

After the gong ceremony, an informal meeting took place between the PSX team and the Canadian High Commission team.

In the meeting, matters relating to Pakistan Economics, Investment Environment, Capital Market and the New Government were discussed.

The possibility of investment by Canadians, including the Pakistani diaspora in Canada, were also discussed.

From the Canadian investors' perspective, the main concerns brought on the table include access to the Stock Market as well as profit repayments procedures. Furthermore, the potential attractiveness of the market was also emphasized.

Richard Morin, Managing Director of PSX, explained and identified options for portfolio fund managers in Canada who can assist and provide access to the Canadian investors to Pakistan Stock Exchange. He also highlighted that there is a US-based ETF on Pakistan in USA, so Canadian investment managers can work with PSX to develop offerings for the investors in Canada.

Sulaiman Mehdi, Chairman of the Board of PSX, talked about the general economic environment of Pakistan, its political and security situation. He emphasized that necessary steps are being taken by the current government in the right direction. He mentioned that Pakistan is making efforts to transit from a trade-oriented economy to an industrialized one.

On the subject of business facilitation via subsidies, Ahmed Chinoy, Member of PSX Board commented that government has offered subsidies in all major sectors to enhance business activity and improve investment climate.

Added that the current economic situation will hopefully straighten out and foreign Currency reserves will stabilize in the near future as the efforts start taking an effect.

The High Commissioner of Canada, Wendy Gilmour, said Pakistan and Canada enjoy historical ties based on trust and friendship.

Adding that Canada has endeavored to help Pakistan in its strides to develop economically and in other spheres of importance.

She hoped that good relations between the two friendly countries will prevail and would allow continuation of Canadian assistance to Pakistan in the future in other spheres as well in the Information Technology and Renewable Energy sectors.

Richard Morin and the PSX team thanked the Canadian High Commissioner and her team for their visit.