Chief executive of Tehran Stock Exchange hosted his Turkish counterpart from Borsa Istanbul in the First Iran-Turkey Capital Markets Forum aimed at increasing cooperation between the two exchanges.
The two executives consider mutual cooperation the cornerstone of their future business, as it marks an alliance between Middle East's two future powerhouses, Mondo Visione reported.
Borsa Istanbul's chief executive, Tuncay Dinc, kicked off his tour of Iran by attending the ITCM forum and meeting his Iranian counterpart Hassan Qalibaf-Asl on Monday.
The forum in Tehran represents an important first step toward Borsa Istanbul's and Turkish capital markets’ goal of increasing cooperation with Iran. The event took place on Feb. 29 in Tehran.
The key goal of cooperation is the dual listing of major Turkish and Iranian companies on both exchanges. This would increase cross-border investments and help the exchanges develop their standards and infrastructure.
The two sides tried to identify areas of cooperation between their capital market institutions and initiate subsequent infrastructure preparation efforts.
"Today’s forum is an important step to implement the document [signed in Oct.]. The forum provides us with an excellent platform in which market entities will benefit from the potential capacities of each other, so that long term strong relations can be built," Qalibaf-Asl said.
Dinc said this is a perfect time to carry our collaboration to the next level because Iranian and Turkish economies will significantly stand out from most of the world economies in the coming years.
"With their young population and strong local demand and fundamentals, these two major economies will dominate our region," he said.
"There is another catalyst as well: we all know the opening of Iranian economy to the world will contribute to all economies in the Middle East and North Africa region, including Turkey."
Ongoing Cooperation
The forum was in line with the memorandum of understanding signed between Borsa Istanbul and TSE on Oct. 26, 2015.
The MoU was the first step toward boosting bilateral cooperation and closer relations.
"One of the major developments between the two exchanges was the signing of the MoU in October in Istanbul. It opened a new chapter for cooperation between TSE and Borsa Istanbul," Qalibaf-Asl said.
The MoU wa aimed at fostering cooperation and developing mutually beneficial' business opportunities for the two exchanges. It entails exchange of information, expertise and staff, organization of joint events and development of dual listing opportunities.
Delegations
The Turkish delegation of 30 companies included representatives from Capital Markets Board, Turkish Capital Markets Association, intermediate institutions, investment banks, law firms and portfolio management companies.
Iranian intermediate institutions, investment banks and financial consulting companies also attended the forum.
Borsa Istanbul delivered presentations on its public offering and trading processes to Iranians. Additional topics such as Islamic financial instruments and derivatives were also reviewed.
"Turkey and Iran are close neighbors with a combined economic size of $1.2 trillion and good foreign trade volume. They share a history of peace for hundreds of years," Dinc said.
"As two exchanges, we may work together to help our economies grow and be a part of our strong linkages. There are so many potential areas of cooperation, including derivatives, data vending, post-trade and others. We will focus on these issues during these two days here and beyond.”
