CUTS International
Invites you to a panel discussion on

May 5, 2006, Cape Town, South Africa

CUTS International facilitates civil society actions for initiating research and advocacy activities on competition policy and law in several parts of the developing world, especially in Africa and Asia.

CUTS Centre for Competition, Investment & Economic Regulation (CUTS-CCIER), a Programme Centre of CUTS International, has been actively involved in implementing research projects for developing better understanding on national competition regimes in various countries, with the cooperation of local project partners (research institutions, NGOs, consumer associations, university departments, etc.) in south and southeast Asia and eastern and southern Africa.

It was observed during the discussions in a recently organised regional conference of a CUTS implemented project entitled, ‘Capacity Building on Competition Policy in Select Countries of Eastern and Southern Africa’ (organised in March 2006 at Addis Ababa, Ethiopia) that civil society organisations (CSOs) in the continent were fairly interested and had the capacity to undertake the research and advocacy activities on competition policy and law issues. This was in conformity with what CUTSInternational has witnessed over a period while implementing several competition related initiatives in Africa. Civil society is an important stakeholder that needs to play an active role in raising public awareness on competition issues, and sensitising various other stakeholders on the benefits of a healthy and functional competition regime.

In order to take the discussions forward, CUTS International is organising a panel discussion on ‘Civil Society Participation in Evolving a Functional Competition Regime – How to Move Ahead in Africa’, on May 5, 2006 (from 1500 hrs to 1730 hrs) at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC), Cape Town, South Africa.

CUTS International welcomes all interested stakeholders to participated and present their views at this panel discussion, and enrich the discourse on this very demanding and relevant issue. The organisers would like to especially encourage representatives from competition authorities and CSOs who are participating in the International Competition Network (ICN) Conference in Cape Town, during May 3-5, 2006 to share their experiences.

For further information please contact:
Rijit Sengupta
Email: rsg@cuts.org
Cell: +91 98292 85959