FEAS Yearbook FEAS Yearbook 2006 | Page 5

FEDERATION OF EURO-ASIAN STOCK EXCHANGES SEMI ANNUAL REPORT OCTOBER 2006 FEDERATION OF EURO-ASIAN STOCK EXCHANGES Boosted by upcoming EU accession for some European members and increasing oil prices for some Asian members, our markets continue to strengthen every year. Osman Birsen President of FEAS & Chairman and CEO of the Istanbul Stock Exchange This year, FEAS is celebrating its 11th anniversary. For the second year running, FEAS has produced two semi annual reports in April and October. As you will remember, the initial and continued aim of transitioning from an annual to semi annual publication is two-fold. First, through providing two publications rather than just one, the market performances of FEAS members are reflected in an updated fashion. Second, the environments (both political and economic), within which those markets operate, are brought to the attention of the readers more timely and concisely. Throughout 2006, the FEAS region has persevered with a strong desire for continued growth in world economies as seen in 2005. The outstanding performance of the securities markets in 2006 is evidenced in the consolidated regional statistics on the adjoining pages. The individual statistics of each of our members are available in the member profile section. The Federation, as a globally recognized regional institution, is growing and maturing together with its members towards its goals. Founded 11 years ago by 12 regional exchanges, FEAS now has a total number of 31 stock exchange members from 28 different countries and 8 affiliate members. FEAS is growing in membership with additional Securities Exchanges and Affiliates. FEAS welcomed the new memberships of the Bahrain Stock Exchange, Iraq Stock Exchange and Montenegro Stock Exchange at its 11th General Assembly meeting held in Shiraz, Iran in September 2005, and this year we look forward to adding to our membership the Belarusian Currency and Stock Exchange and a new affiliate member, namely, the Central and Security Depository of Iran. We are pleased to include special sections for our new members in this issue of the semi annual report and we look forward to reporting their achievements in our following issues. As we have now completed our eleventh year of operation, most of you are well aware of our accomplishments to date. Those that were particularly noteworthy are; the implementation of the FEAS Data Center (FDC) to standardize and promote cross market statistics and the initiation and planned implementation (2006) of the FEAS Index for better visibility. There were special activities that promoted the growth of stock exchange operations such as bilateral visits, training programs, the joint ISE/FEAS development project and international associations with organizations such as the World Bank, World Federation of Exchanges and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). So far in 2006, FEAS has jointly hosted one meeting and one conference; one of which was the Corporate Governance Roundtable jointly hosted with the OECD and the second was the Working Committee Meeting held in Chisinau Moldova, jointly hosted by the Moldovan Stock Exchange. In November 2006, FEAS will host the 12th General Assembly Meeting in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt jointly with the Cairo and Alexandrian Stock Exchanges; the first Affiliate Member Meeting, in addition to a Working Committee Meeting and Executive Committee Meeting, will also be held in Cairo. FEAS is striving to place greater importance on regional development over the next 5 years. Our continued commitment to our 5- year strategic plan is designed to achieve the objectives specified within the mission of the Federation and to attain a greater role in the competitive global market environment. Our focus over the next 5 years will be on the area of promoting corporate governance, facilitating timely disclosure, achieving effective dissemination of information, attaining regional convergence in listing requirements, settlement, trading rules and software, creating greater awareness and visibility for the region’s stocks and investment opportunities, promoting the listing of ‘investment grade’ companies in the region’s markets and creating linkages among the region’s intermediaries, data providers, settlement and custody institutions and stock exchanges, while encouraging cooperation among securities commissions. Looking at the individual future outlook of our markets, as covered in the member profile pages, one can see that there continues to be work toward the challenges of member markets in providing competitive and viable financing options to both the government and private sectors, while enhancing operations through technology and expanding services to market participants. Our efforts continue to focus on the areas of increased transparency through expense in infrastructure and developing regulations to promote stronger corporate governance. I would like to take this opportunity to extend my heartfelt thanks for their contributions to: Auerbach Grayson and Company Inc., Finans Asset Management, Is Investment, Kardemir AS, Klimasan AS, Fortis, OMX, Tata Consulting and Tayburn Kurumsal. We hope that you will take a moment to visit our contributor section in the FEAS website at www.feas.org and read their articles in the following pages. In closing, I want to commend the efforts of all our Task Force members in achieving our regional objectives through their commitment and the Secretariat for its success in maintaining our cohesive organization. As we close our 11th year anniversary, I am happy to say that our formula for achievement will be applied toward our development for the future. PAGE 3