FTSE Russell's CEO Mark Makepeace stressed that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's entry into the world stock banks is considered as a milestone in its plans to diversify its economy under the leadership of Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman, deputy premier and minister of defense, who launched Vision 2030 to liberalize Capital Markets, and following that, now the Kingdom meets the global benchmarks and international market, Saudi Press Agency reported Thursday.

"Saudi Arabia’s inclusion in the FTSE benchmark is the largest event in the emerging markets since 2001, and an important development for global investors,” Makepeace told a press conference in New York, referring to the expansion of FTSE’s coverage following its purchase of Barings Emerging Market Index the previous year.

Also during a press conference on Thursday following the announcement by the FTSE Russell Group, the global provider of indicators on the accession of the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) to its global index of emerging markets, where the Saudi stock market will qualify for the classification into emerging markets rather than not listed in the FTSE World Index, Makepeace said, "The Kingdom was first added to our supervisory body in September 2015, and since then we have worked closely with the capital markets to ensure that the reforms meet the highest standards."

He added that the FTSE Russell index will begin to include Saudi shares in March 2019 and will be fully completed by December 2019 and once the process is completed, Saudi Arabia will be the largest market in the Middle East with almost five and a half billion US dollars of money flows into the Saudi Arabian market.

Tadawul welcomed in a statement Thursday the announcement made by FTSE Russell to include it in the FTSE Global Equity Index after it has been on the watch-list since September 2015.

"FTSE's announcement today is significant for Tadawul in that it indicates growing investor confidence in the Saudi capital market and recognition that we are among the largest and most liquid emerging markets in the world," Tadawul CEO Khalid Al Hussan said.

Gaurav Shah, CEO of Saudi Al Rajhi Capital described the decision as "a watershed moment for the Kingdom".

"The decision will further improve liquidity, lower equity risk premium associated with the Saudi stock market, improve corporate governance and is an important step to further institutionalize the market," Shah said.

Crown Prince Muhammad met at his residence in New York on Wednesday Makepeace, Saudi Press Agency said Thursday. During the meeting, they reviewed a number of financial and economic issues related to the financial markets and the accession of the Saudi stock market to the FTSE index, which reflects investor confidence in economic and financial reforms according to Kingdom Vision 2030.

The meeting was attended by Prince Khalid Bin Salman, the Kingdom’s ambassador to the US, Minister of Finance Muhammad Al-Jadaan, Chairman of the Board of the Capital Market Authority (CMA) Muhammad Al-Quwaiz and other officials.

Prince Muhammad also received in New York on Wednesday the chairman of the Economic Club of New York Terry Lundgren and a number of its members. During the meeting, they reviewed the economic relations between the two countries.

Prince Muhammad on Thursday received in New York former US Secretary of State John Kerry. Cordial talks were exchanged. The meeting was attended by Saudi Ambassador Prince Khalid.

Meanwhile, “MiSK” Foundation continued to organize various events in the US, in conjunction with the official visit of Crown Prince Muhammad to the United States.

On Wednesday, the audience in New York attended an event featuring a variety of youth experiences. The event included inspirational stories of more than a dozen Saudi young men and women, who presented their experiences in various fields such as medicine, education, social networking and accounting programs. – SPA