At the invitation of the Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Milko Stimac, the Chairman of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, Predrag Markovic, today visited the Commission and was informed of its activities so far, as well as results of the development of the stock market, and plans for the coming year.
The Securities and Exchange Commission is a regulatory body reporting to the National Assembly, and also one that continuously co-operates with the National Assembly at the level of the appropriate Committees, but also at the level of boards of inquiry, Mr Markovic said at a news conference. He underlined that the present convocation of the National Assembly had adopted a number of laws regulating various aspects, but not a set of laws to regulate the stock market, and added that these would be adopted by mid-2006.
‘We know that the market will continue to function in the meantime, albeit in trying conditions, and that the most adaptable, though not the most capable, people will succeed. Over the past year, the Commission has been identifying a long list of irregularities in the market that cannot be prevented, for which the National Assembly is also partly to blame. The Assembly is aware that the Commission has neither the equipment nor the funding to react in certain cases; however, since I do not trust even people I know to keep their word, I have come here to see for myself. The National Assembly had not managed to include the Commission’s financial plan into its agenda, but the Commission shares the fate of society as a whole, as do all of us. It is important that political will should exist, but it alone is not enough. From all I have learned so far, I know that both the Commission and the legislator wish to establish this institution as a constitutional category, and to regulate the stock market in a detailed and systematic manner. This may be painful, but it is the only right thing to do, as that is how rules of the game can only be set’, Mr Markovic concluded.

Chairman Markovic presented the Chairman of the Commission with a National Assembly pin, bearing the coat of arms of the Republic of Serbia.