KARACHI: Canadian High Commissioner Heather Cruden, during her visit to the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE), lauded the performance of the market during the last few years and said that Canada and Pakistan have over 60 years of friendly relations and Canada had consistently supported Pakistan in its development efforts by providing expertise and financing of over $1 billion.
The Canadian High Commissioner was in Karachi Stock Exchange to open the market with the bell ceremony. She said that Canadian values of promoting democracy, good governance and human rights were cornerstones of further strengthening the relationship between the two countries.
The Commissioner said Pakistan had tremendous potential for socio-economic growth with multifarious business opportunities in a wide spectrum of industries and economic sectors. She would be working studiously to explore areas of cooperation between both public and private sectors of Pakistan and Canada.
Having arrived in Pakistan in January of this year Cruden said she was visiting all parts of the country from Gilgit-Baltistan to Quetta, Lahore, Hyderabad and now Karachi. She was heartened by the friendly welcome accorded to her and felt that despite challenges, the people of Pakistan were resilient, full of energy and hope for a better future.
Nadeem Naqvi, Managing Director, KSE, while giving a presentation to the Canadian High Commissioner regarding the dynamics of Pakistan Capital Market, highlighted the performance of stock market and the increasing role of foreign institutional portfolio investors whose holdings have now crossed 30pc of the free float of listed companies’ shares.
He outlined the eco-system of the capital market and the central role of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) in regulation of the capital market and the securities industry.
