Tun Daim Zainuddin in his keynote address commended the IOSCO on their efforts in promoting high standards of regulation through international co-operation, exchange of information and mutual assistance.

In his opening remarks, Encik Ali called for greater regional co-operation and stressed the importance of IOSCO's work in providing valuable benchmarks for the progress of securities markets and its contribution towards ensuring a strong and stable international financial environment.

The first day of the meeting was an open session with three panels discussing pertinent issues in capital market regulation and development. More than 300 participants, comprising IOSCO delegates, and senior representatives of the capital market industry from Malaysia, attended the open session.

The first panel discussed the market outlook for Asia-Pacific markets, the second discussed regional regulatory and developmental efforts to enhance standards of corporate governance and disclosure, while the last session considered the issue of regulatory reform, deregulation and liberalisation of markets in the region.

The second day of the meeting, which was open only to IOSCO delegates, considered issues to enhance the cohesiveness and integration of the regulation of capital markets. Among others, the meeting discussed the viability of a multilateral Memorandum of Understanding between Asia-Pacific capital market regulators for the purpose of information sharing and more effective surveillance.

The APRC, one of the four regional committees of IOSCO, consists of 22 members from 19 jurisdictions namely Australia, Bangladesh, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Kyrgyz Republic, New Zealand, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand and Malaysia. Encik Ali was elected the chairman of the APRC in May 2000.

IOSCO is a world-wide forum for securities regulators that addresses issues and demands related to the regulation of securities and futures markets. IOSCO's ordinary membership consists of 97 national securities regulators. In addition, there are 58 affiliate members and seven associate members.

The SC has been a member of IOSCO since 1993 and held the chair of the IOSCO's Emerging Markets Committee (EMC) from 1996 to 1999. Additionally, since 1994, the SC has been chairing the EMC's Working Group on Secondary Market Regulation. Over the past six years, the working group has studied and published reports on topics in relation to emerging markets, such as the causes, effects and regulatory implications of the financial crisis in emerging markets; legal and regulatory frameworks for exchange-traded derivatives and for clearance and settlement; and financial risk management in emerging markets. The SC is also a member of several Task Forces established under IOSCO such as the Task Force for Securities Settlement Systems and the Internet Task Force.