TEHRAN – The newly appointed head of Iran’s Securities and Exchange Organization (SEO) said improving the stock market’s efficiency is the main priority of the SEO in the current government administration, IRNA reported.

“In the 14th government, our mission is to protect the rights and interests of shareholders, facilitate the formation of capital, and improve the efficiency of the market which is the priority of the SEO programs,” Hojatollah Seyedi said on Tuesday in a ceremony held for his introduction.

“The capacities of the capital market are huge and I believe that this market has room for a leap and now we are on the threshold of that leap,” Seyedi said.

“Now, in addition to great capital and capabilities of the companies, we have powerful workforces, investors and competent managers in the market, so there is no reason why our capital market should not develop and reach at least 300 to 400 billion dollars of gross domestic product,” he added.

Emphasizing that big steps should be taken in this regard, the official continued: “I have decided to work to this end with high motivation to play a small role in the development of the country.”

The head of the Securities and Exchange Organization pointed to the capital market as a regulatory and supervisory body and said: “In this regard, our mission is to protect the rights of shareholders, promote market efficiency and facilitate capital formation, which are connected to each other like the sides of a triangle. But the question is, which of these factors can be the driving force as a more independent variable?”

“The important variable is the improvement of market efficiency, that is, the formation of more capital, which, in addition to increasing capital, also preserves the rights of shareholders,” he finally said.

EF/MA