 Welcome to the module on Corporate Governance and I am Professor Saeed Hussain Haider. We will be together for the next 240 plus sessions which are going to be covering the various individual, institutional, corporate, communal, national and global perspectives of corporate governance. Ladies and gentlemen, we will be looking at different models, we will be looking at different frameworks, we will be looking at different semantics, we will be looking at different institutions which are involved with corporate governance at a global and a national level. We will try to focus upon the different aspects and dimensions of the Securities Exchange Commission of Pakistan. We will be looking at the various models which are covering and integrating different schools of thought on corporate governance and especially the new dimensionalities and the new paradigms of the 21st century on corporate governance are going to be discussed with you. We are going to be looking at the shareholder, we are going to be looking at the stakeholder, at the different members of society, at the government, at the board level, the management level, the worker level and most importantly the consumer and the client, we will be looking at how they all tend to synergize and then they tend to integrate into a core called corporate governance. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the module on corporate governance. Today we are going to be covering some of the very fundamental definitions of corporate governance and then as things tend to unroll and we will be reveling upon the various perspectives of this very interesting and very intriguing and very important aspect because this is the future of the global economy and national economies. We have to ensure the best of corporate governance so that we can strengthen our economy and in that case we will be seeing how it would ensure that there is an equitable distribution of resources and those resources would create a win-win situation. Ladies and gentlemen, corporate governance. If we look at the definition of corporate governance, corporate governance refers to actions taken by organizations to improve relationships and interactions with various stakeholders of corporations such as investors, workers, government, consumers, business partners, NGOs engaging in community activities and promoting good environmental practices. From an academic standpoint corporate governance is seen as that which addresses the problems that result from the separation of ownership and control. Ladies and gentlemen, just like I was mentioning earlier and as you can see in the very fundamental definition of corporate governance it is about all the stakeholders, all of those institutions and individuals involved in any corporate setup. It does not favor one particular vested interest. It tries to create a balance. It tries to create a conducive environment so that they can be optimization of resources. They can be more efficiency and that result in more effectiveness. Secondly, when we are looking at corporate governance then we are now nowadays looking at something which is extremely important and that is corporate social responsibility. And in corporate social responsibility we are looking and we are hinging the survival of our future generations on the best environmental practices. We have seen how the deluge of environmental practices has led to disasters taking place across the world. Unprecedented disasters, unprecedented episodes taking place which have basically toppled economies around the world and therefore it is very important to understand how we can create that foundation, build the pillars and then develop a shelter which can protect all and can be good for all and create that win-win situation that we were talking about. Ladies and gentlemen, when we talk about corporate governance then the organization for economic cooperation and development which is a committee of 30 developed countries which is a think tank for the modern world. They talk about corporate governance as what involves a set of relationships between a company's management, its board, its shareholders and other stakeholders. So on one side we see that there is the board of the company which we call the board of directors. On the other we see that there are chief officers, the chief executive officer, the chief operating officer, the chief officers, we call them C-suite positions and then there are the shareholders, the investors who have put in the finances. They have a very important stake and then the other stakeholders which we talked about earlier that forms the colossum of corporate management. So ladies and gentlemen that is a very succinct definition of corporate governance and tends to encapsulate the very essence of good corporate governance in the 21st century. Further expanding upon it ladies and gentlemen, corporate governance also provides the structure to which the objectives of the company are set and the means of attaining those objectives and monitoring performance are determined. Good corporate governance should provide proper incentives for the board and management to pursue objectives that are in the interests of the company and its shareholders and should facilitate effective monitoring. So again expanding on the board, the management, the shareholders and the stakeholders, integrating them all together, ensuring that there is such a mechanism which can promote good performance and also good monitoring and at the end of the day make everyone accountable and responsible based upon the best principles of maritime transparency. That is what ladies and gentlemen is corporate governance. When we talk again with an individual company and across an economy as a whole helps to provide a degree of confidence that is necessary for proper functioning of a market economy. As a result the cost of capital is lower, firms are encouraged to use the sources more efficiently underpinning growth. So again when we are talking about corporate governance it is not about the institution. It is about the collective output, the collective environment of institutions which put together tend to translate into an economy which would be investor friendly and shareholder friendly and would encourage people to invest in that economy in different institutions and get the best outputs for that particular economy and also for the global economy. When we are talking about corporate governance then something which can never be left out is the Cadbury report. So when we look at it from a definition point of view then the Cadbury report basically tends to enumerate that corporate governance is concerned with holding the balance between economic, social and individual and communal goals. So it is all of these different type of goals put together. The governance framework is there to encourage the efficient use of resources which are equally required to be accountable for all of those managing those resources and the aim is to align all the possible interests of individuals, corporations and society. So Cadbury report tends to inject an element of the social context of the society and ensure that no one is deprived of their rights. No one is manipulated, no one is exploited, no one is abused and we create a working, efficient, effective and highly performing environment. Thank you so much ladies and gentlemen.