26 March 2017
Deal in line with strategy to develop stock market

KUWAIT CITY: Boursa Kuwait has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Middle East Investor Relation Association on Thursday, March 23, at Boursa Kuwait Headquarters. Khaled AlKhaled, Boursa Kuwait Vice-Chairman and CEO, and Alex MacDonald-Vitale, MEIRA Chairman, signed the agreement to mark the start of this partnership.

MEIRA is a non-profit organisation that aims to promote investor relations best practice throughout the Middle East. Through this partnership, Boursa Kuwait will be playing a leading role in the support of the ‘MEIRA Kuwait Chapter’ in an effort to raise the standards of the Investor Relations role by rolling out specialized awareness and training programs.

Commenting on this agreement, Khaled AlKhaled said: “Developing the exchange scene in Kuwait requires extensive work on many different levels. One primary level is engaging with our stakeholders with the persistent and consistent transparent approach, which we have adopted since the start.”

He also added “This has allowed us to establish positive relations with them that in turn has and will continue to support the evolvement of Boursa Kuwait into the leading exchange we seek to create.” “Boursa Kuwait aims to partner with organizations and entities that share the same interests and objectives, in order to ensure a valuable outcome and a mutually beneficial partnership. In line with this agreement, Boursa Kuwait aims to further establish and deploy best practices with regards to the existing investor relations activities and framework, and indeed leverage the knowhow and competence of market experts, such as MEIRA,” AlKhaled added.

The objectives of MEIRA are to foster a culture of effective communication between listed companies, exchanges, regulators, advisers and the buy and sell side communities in the Middle East, and to promote transparency in the market. It also plays an essential role in the governance framework which must be adhered to in terms of listed companies and licensed individuals.

Commenting on its role in reinforcing effective investor relations, Mac- Donald-Vitale at MEIRA said: “We are delighted to embark on this strategic partnership with Boursa Kuwait. This Memorandum of Understanding further strengthens the existing platform of collaboration between MEIRA and Boursa Kuwait, at a time when continued improvement in standards of best practice is of critical importance to the market’s development.” He also added “At MEIRA, we look forward to supporting Boursa Kuwait’s efforts to develop the Kuwait financial market”.

Following the signature of the MOU, MEIRA plans to host a training session on Investor Relations on April 29-30 in Kuwait, which is open to public, interested in IR matters. For more information on Boursa Kuwait, please visit www.boursakuwait. com.kw or email info@boursakuwait. com.kw

© Arab Times 2017