Book to be introduced; group also to debate role of government concessions, use of economic analysis in competition policy
Geneva, 7 July 2009 -- Experts meeting 7-9 July will participate in a voluntary peer review of Indonesia´s practices for encouraging economic competition and will hold a panel discussion on how to strike a balance between national efforts to establish fair competition and government efforts to cope with the global financial crisis.
A book also will be introduced, Politics Triumphs Economics?, containing a series of essays by experts from around the world who have worked with UNCTAD´s Intergovernmental Group of Experts on Competition Law and Policy. The volume is being published by the Consumer Unity & Trust Society (CUTS).
The voluntary review of Indonesia, to take place 8 July, features interaction between four members of a review committee -- two each from developed and developing countries -- representatives of the Indonesian Government, and competition experts in the audience. After the committee, chaired by Nick Heys of Australia, offers initial reactions and recommendations, Indonesian officials will ask questions of the audience on how to meet the challenges faced by the country in the field of competition. At the end of the session, based on these interchanges, UNCTAD staff will offer a proposed capacity-building programme, based on agreement with the Indonesian Government and aimed at implementing some of the recommendations contained in the review.
Roundtable discussions during the three-day meeting will include a 7 July debate on "The relationship between competition and industrial policies in promoting economic development." The topic reflects current concern about interplay in developing countries between government-driven efforts to respond to the economic and financial crisis and standards for fair competition.
An 8 July roundtable will debate "Public monopolies, concessions, and competition law and policies," reviewing, among other things, how government-dominated or government-owned utility, transport, mining, and minerals operations affect the state of competition in a country.
A 9 July panel will review a report on "The use of economic analysis in competition cases".
This 10th meeting of the Intergovernmental Group of Experts also will prepare the Sixth Ministerial Conference on Competition, to be held in November 2010 in Chile. Ministerial Conferences are held every five years to review and, if necessary, adjust the Model Law on Competition and the Set of Principles and Rules on Competition.
