Fourth Annual Palestinian Capital Market Forum is Held on 09/11/2010

RAMALLAH, Palestine, November 1, 2010 /PRNewswire/ --

- Forum to Address the Topic of Investor Relations and the Mitigation of Crisis in the Market Place

- Palestine Exchange Re-enters Market Place With its New Brand With a Track Record of Annual Return on Investments Between 5-7% during the Last 5 Years

The Palestine Exchange announced today the convening of its Fourth Annual Palestinian Capital Market Forum (http://www.pex.ps/forum) to be held in Ramallah on the West Bank on Tuesday, 9 November 2010. The Forum will focus its deliberations on the topic of Investor Relations and how best practice is a reliable safety net to mitigate against market risks and turmoil. Held annually, the Forum this year will be held under the auspices and participation of H.E. Dr. Salam Fyyad, Palestinian Prime Minister, whose government is pinned on nation building under best practice governance and market liberalization.

The Forum constitutes a major attraction for Palestine's financial and capital markets community; it is the place to meet listed companies, regulators, Palestine Exchange Executives, Analysts, Brokers, Bankers and other business leaders who converge annually to take stock of the Exchanges steady performance and market steadfastness despite a tumultuous year for regional markets and a lingering Global financial crisis.

"In order to bring best practice into the Forum, we have invited a number of Western speakers who are experts in Investor Relations and Investment attraction in key international markets. Speakers will also address topics such as; financial communications; Governance and crisis management in the market place," said Ahmad Aweidah, CEO of the Palestine Exchange. "This year our main speakers come from developed markets with developed best practice in Investor Relations and Fund Management. We wanted to raise the bar in Palestine on the whole value of Investor Relations and how this communication function, can help investors, listed companies and the whole market react professionally to market changes and opportunities. We are located in a very politically hot region, and as such the function of succinct communications and best practice investor relations are key to wither crisis and volatile situations in our market. We hope that this special focus on IR will influence the spread of this function among all our listed companies. Our role is not limited to listing, and disclosure only, it naturally extends towards creating a culture for constant and professional communications among all the Exchange's community," added Mr. Aweideh.

Some of the speakers for this year include: James Martin, General Manager Middle East and Africa, Nasdaq OMX; Claire Fargeot, Partner, Buchanan Communications a leading IR specialist, UK; Frank Ford, Director, Capital Precision, UK; Miranda Lane, Finance Talking Ltd, UK and Bashar Zakaria, Emerging Market Advisor/Analyst & Finance Professor with California State University & Retirement System, USA.

The Palestine Exchange which recently rebranded itself in prelude to it becoming a public shareholding company itself in a move to offer more attractiveness to investors and transparency in its governing structures, has had a good performance over the course of last year. Its listed companies distributed dividends exceeding USD 630 million during the period 2006-2010, making the annual average distribution of dividends at USD 126 million. A market with this performance when the region has had to withstand some underperformance deserves to improve the communication function of its listed companies with the outside world. There are more opportunities waiting to be communicated to investors abroad according to Exchange management. As a sign of growing interest in its activities; The Forum has managed to attract Palestine's leading listed companies; Palestine Development & Investment Company (PADICO Holding) and Paltel Group (Paltel) to be its diamond sponsors; in addition to a silver sponsorship from international Financial Advisory firm Ernst & Young.

In order to help spread the word on the Exchange and its listed companies during this upcoming Forum, the Exchange has chosen PR NEWSWIRE and Ellam Tam as its media sponsor. "The choice to work with PR NEWSWIRE is further evidence of our sincere desire to bring more tools and channels for communicating the many good opportunities at global standards to the world," concluded Mr. Aweidah. Ellam Tam a local Strategic Communications agency specialized in business communications is the local representative of PR NEWSWIRE in the Palestinian Market and has a focus on IR in its service lines.

    For more information Contact:

    Fida' Musleh Azar
    Head of Public Relations & Investor Education
    Tel: +970(or 972)2-2403903
    Mobile: +970(or 972)599-828-608
    Email: [email protected], http://www.pex.ps

    Ola Sawaftah Abu Rub
    Media Monitoring Supervisor
    Tel: + 970 or (972)2-2-2409105/7
    E-mail:[email protected]

    Website: http://www.ellamtam.com

SOURCE The Palestine Exchange