Middle East IR Society joins Global IR Network

The

has been on a tear recently. The non-profit, which launched last year, said today it joined the Global IR Network. That follows a memorandum of understanding it signed with the IR Society of the UK a couple of weeks ago, along with a new partnership with the Dubai Financial Market. Earlier this year, the society held its first conference in Bahrain. The organisation also recently introduced membership packages.

Should these efforts succeed - and there's no reason they shouldn't - we'll have witnessed nothing less than the professionalisation of IR in the Middle East. That's no small step. One of the biggest complaints you hear from investors is that relationships with the companies they own are fractured. Financial information comes out in more of a trickle than a deluge. In the absence of prompt responses to news from companies' IR departments, investors are left to make decisions based on rumours and market chatter.

In that context, it's encouraging to hear that the ME-IR Society is operating in earnest, inking partnerships and scheduling conferences and workshops. If all goes well, more transparency and better IR will mean more money flows into the region's markets and companies, especially from investors in developed countries where professional IR is the norm. "Now more than ever, investor relations professionals here in the Middle East can play a critical role in attracting increased investment to this young and dynamic region,"

Arif Amiri

, Emaar's senior director of IR and the chair of the ME-IR society, said in a release.

The ME-IR Society is one of a number of groups in the region that are making noise about transparency, regulation and the like.

promotes high standards of corporate governance.

is busy educating company directors. It's all about bringing companies in the Middle East in line with developed-world standards.

The transparency theme has been cascading through the news during the global downturn. Which isn't too surprising; when times are bad, investors and stakeholders of all types feel the need to know more. They also feel the need for legal protection. Whether it's

and

in the property sector or

on the GCC markets, many powerful people in the region have their eyes set on more openness and better rules. Even notoriously secret sovereign wealth funds are

.

Recent articles on transparency in the GCC:

GCC markets weakened by lack of transparency: study [

]

More regulatory reforms and transparency sought [

]

We must tighten up corporate governance [

]

Wealth funds in the UAE lead way with transparency [

]

Gulf firms must improve investor relations - analysts [

]

Full disclosure needed for investor confidence [

]

Untangling investor relations [

]

Global Financial Crisis has brought on increasing transparency and disclosure among GCC corporates [

]

Mubadala releases its financial statements from 2008 [

]

(Photo: Arif Amiri, chairman of the ME-IR Society; supplied)