Rania Al-Mashat, Minister of International Cooperation, and Mohamed Farid, Chairperson of the Egyptian Exchange (EGX), inaugurated Tuesday the EGX trading session, as part of Egypt’s participation in the activities of the World Investor Week 2021.
The event was also attended by heads of private and public universities, leaders of the stock market, board members of EGX, and representatives of associations working in the stock market.
The International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) launched the World Investor Week in 2017, with the aim of raising financial knowledge and enhancing the culture of investment in the capital markets.
The week includes many events and activities, as more than 80 global stock exchanges are highly active and have many efforts in spreading the financial culture related to the capital markets, with trading sessions from October 4 to October 11, in celebration of the World Investor Week, based on invitations it receives from the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE).
Al-Mashat stressed the importance of the World Investor Week, to promote the activities and the role played by EGX in developing the Egyptian economy. She noted the importance of capital markets during the coming period in light of the world’s demand for green and innovative financing tools to advance the agenda of Sustainable development 2030, and Egypt’s endeavor to use this type of financing tools to enhance its development vision.
The Minister indicated that financial markets play a major role in financing large and restricted companies as well as small and medium ones, which enable them to finance their expansions, increase their business volume and enhance their growth opportunities.
For his part, Mohamed Farid said that Egypt’s participation in the World Investor Week reflects the increasing involvement in supporting and promoting financial culture and raising awareness of issues related to the capital market as one of the most important elements to develop the Egyptian market.
He revealed several endeavors by the current administration to establish partnerships with several ministries concerned with education and culture, to develop and produce educational content that contributes to spreading financial culture for all groups, especially for children, through interactive, dramatic story content.
“The current management believes that the process of enhancing financial culture and raising levels of financial awareness and knowledge is one of the most important targets of the value chain to develop the market, to raise efficiency and competitiveness. This would happen by increasing the number of listed companies on the “supply side” and the number of investors “the demand side”, as well as developing products,” he said
He added that the strategy to enhance financial culture includes several aspects. It includes training employees and university students, developing social media platforms and updating the website, and launching an unprecedented media campaign to spread awareness and knowledge of the basics of investing in the stock market.
Nadini Sukumar, President of WFE, said that financial literacy is not optional. “We have always invested in spreading financial culture, believing in the importance of achieving inclusive growth, and market-based financing that contributes to achieving sustainable economic growth. It is very dear to us, given the nature of the securities industry, which deems protecting dealers a top concern.”
Martin Moloney, Secretary-General of IOSCO, said that promoting and spreading financial culture is a major player in the various work streams of the organization’s work.
“It is a cornerstone. We will always work to design programmes to raise the awareness of customers as a key factor in ensuring their protection,” he added.
