Dissemination of the peer review on Competition Law and Policy recommendations

The mission consisted in the dissemination of the peer review report on competition law and policy of Paraguay which was presented at the IGE meeting on competition law and policy held in Geneva in July 2023.

The dissemination took place over five days during which the content of the report and the recommendations made to the legislative and executive branches of government, as well as to the competition authority, were explained in detail.

On the first day, the National Competition Day was held at the headquarters of the central bank. The event was attended by representatives of the public and private sectors, including lawyers, economists, academics and representatives of the judiciary.  Taking into account that the recommendations refer to the need to carry out reforms in the competition law and in aspects related to some public policies, meetings were held with high-level officials from the legislative, executive and judicial branches.

As regards the executive branch, meetings were held with the Minister of Industry, the deputy ministers of industry and trade, the head of the President's office and other political officials.

In relation to the legislature, meetings were held with senators and in particular with the chairman of the parliamentary committee on economics, given the link between competition policy and economic policy.

Meetings were held with the judiciary, in particular with the President of the Supreme Court, the Director of the Judicial School and the President of the Council of the Judiciary.

Of particular relevance were the meetings held with the presidents of business organisations, representing industry, commerce and the services sector as well as the agricultural and livestock sector, which represents a very important part of the productive fabric.

To give greater visibility to the dissemination, the UNCTAD representative participated in two live programs on television and on the radio in high-audience programs.  Obviously, we held internal meetings with CONACOM members in order to establish a strategy to carry out the implementation of the recommendations. The position of the different actors with whom we interviewed was positive, in the sense that it is necessary to strengthen competition policy and the institution (CONACOM).

Finally, we had a meeting with an important financial institution in Latin America to obtain adequate financing for the execution of an action plan that will be prepared in the coming months and in which UNCTAD will play an essential role.