Title: The Seventeenth Meeting of the Heads of GCC Capital Markets Authorities Committee

KUWAIT, October 24, 2018 - The Capital Market Authority  hosted the 17th meeting of the of Heads of GCC Capital Markets Authorities Committee (or equivalent) in the GCC countries in the State of Kuwait on Wednesday 24 October.
Prof. Ahmad Al-Melhem, Chairman of the Board of Commissioners of the Capital Markets Authority (CMA), led the meeting, which was held for one day in the presence of the Assistant Secretary General of the GCC for Economic and Development Affairs at the Secretariat General of the Gulf Cooperation Council, HE Mr. Khalifa Bin Said Al-Abri, With the participation of representatives of the Secretariat. In addition to the representatives of the Capital Market Authorities in the GCC countries (or equivalent) in all Member States. Participation was represented by the following: Dr. Obaid Al-Zaabi, CEO of the Securities and Commodities Authority in the United Arab Emirates, Ms. Abeer Shaikh Ebrahim Al-Saad, Director of the Capital Markets Supervision at the Central Bank of Bahrain, Mr. Youssef Hamad Al-Bilihid, Vice Chairman of the Capital Markets Authority in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Mr. Nasser Ahmad Al-Shaibi, CEO of Qatar Financial Markets Authority, H.E. Abdullah bin Salim Al-Salmi, Executive President of the Capital Markets Authority in the Sultanate of Oman, and Mr. Abdulmohsen Hasan Al-Mazidi, Commissioner at the Capital Markets Authority in the State of Kuwait. 
The meeting commenced with a speech by Prof. Ahmad Al-Melhem, Chairman of the Board of Commissioners, the Managing Director of the CMA, where he welcomed the participants, representatives of the Secretariat General as well as representatives of the regulatory authorities in the capital markets in the GCC countries and praised the importance of enhancing cooperation and overcoming obstacles. He also noted  the importance of the issues on the agenda, and wished the meeting success in achieving the desired objectives. This was followed by a speech by the Assistant Secretary General at the beginning of which he extended his thanks and appreciation to His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, and the Kuwaiti government for hosting the meeting. He also welcomed the participation of Prof. Ahmad Al-Melhem, for leading the meeting. And appreciated The Committee’s efforts in the course of achieving the integration of the GCC capital markets and reviewed the most important issues of the agenda of the meeting according to its provisions.
The meeting reviewed the resolutions of the previous meeting (sixteenth) of the Committee which represented the starting point for the discussions of the meeting, in particular the memorandum of the Secretariat on the follow-up of the implementation of the Committee's decisions at the above-mentioned meeting held in Manama followed by the Secretariat's note on the developments of the Memorandum of Understanding between the GCC Capital Markets regulators and specifically the comments and suggestions of Member States on the progress of work in the memorandum and review of cooperative work and propose initiatives for collaborations between the regulators.
The third point of the meeting was devoted to discussing the memorandum of the Secretariat on the study of the strategy and mechanisms needed for the integration of capital markets in the GCC countries, and after reviewing the draft integration plan as well as the summary of the many initiatives that were presented on integration and included in a seminar held for this purpose in the Kingdom of Bahrain.
The memorandum of the Secretariat on the joint meeting between the Committee of Governors of Monetary Institutions and Central Banks and the Ministerial Committee for Capital Markets was the fourth topic of the discussions of the meeting, and the appropriate decision was taken on this regard.
The fifth topic of the meeting was to discuss the second joint meeting between the committee of heads of capital market authorities (or equivalents) and the heads of stock exchanges in the GCC countries. Some of the main topics that will be covered are the unification of the start time of trading as well as integration of financial markets, after which the participants moved to discuss the memorandum of the Secretariat related to the developments of capital markets in the GCC in general before moving to discuss the date and venue of the next meeting, which was agreed that it will be held in April 2019, the 18th meeting of the Committee of the Heads of Capital Markets Commissions (or equivalent) in the GCC States in the city of Muscat, Sultanate of Oman, before Prof. Ahmad Al Melhem, Chairman of the Board of Commissioners of the Kuwait Capital Markets Authority, concluded the activities of the conference he thanked the participating members of the Council for their keenness for motivating joint cooperation between the GCC countries in all aspects, especially in the economic aspect, in the field of securities activities, commending their tireless efforts to ensure the success of the activities of the seventeenth meeting and enrich its discussions for the good of all.