The Malta Stock Exchange hosted a dinner last Thursday in honour of Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi. Also present for the dinner, which was held at the Exchange premises in Valletta, was the Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, Tonio Fenech, the Mayor of Valletta, Dr Paul Borg Olivier, as well as representatives of the Malta Financial Services Authority, the Central Bank of Malta, FinanceMalta, the listed companies and the College of Stockbroking Firms.

The Prime Minister said that the Malta Stock Exchange has developed into an important financial institution which fulfills an essential function in our national economic framework by facilitating the process by which savings are channeled into productive investment.

He added that the Exchange has been instrumental in shifting the traditional Maltese mentality away from saving and towards investing. The Prime Minister emphasized that such a positive development could only be achieved because the Exchange has achieved credibility and recognition both nationally and internationally.

He said that now that we form part of the Eurozone, Malta’s potential as an attractive business location has been enhanced reflecting a more stable macroeconomic environment, a lower cost of capital and reduced exchange rate risks in Euro-related transactions.

Dr Gonzi added that the Government’s vision for Malta is of a dynamic, high value-added economy based on high levels of competence, skills and excellence capable of sustaining a high standard of living for our people.

The Chairman of Malta Stock Exchange, Joe Zammit Tabona welcomed the two newly-listed companies, Crimsonwing and Maltapost and said that widening the choice of securities available to investors on the market is a top priority target for the Exchange. The Chairman outlined the work carried out during the past year and said that new equity and bond offerings during 2007 had raised some 840 million Euro on the market.

He said that the corporate restructuring exercise that, as from last November, turned the Malta Stock Exchange into a public liability company, a plc was a very important event for the Exchange.

Mr Zammit Tabona also highlighted a number of initiatives which the Exchange is currently working on. He said that the technological infrastructure of the Exchange is being overhauled in order to improve the overall efficiency of the trading system and to enable the Exchange to offer new services to issuers, investors and intermediaries.