International Agreement On Competition
Is Needed To Protect Developing Countries From Export
Cartels
The Non-Profit Press, September
23, 2011 |
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In his opening remarks to lay
out the agenda of the symposium, Frederic Jenny, Chairman,
Competition Committee, OECD, emphasised the need for
international agreement on competition to shield developing
countries from the adverse effects of export cartels in
primary product markets, for example, through an outright
ban by developed countries on export cartels based in these
countries or through a reverse antidumping agreement in the
WTO.
Jenny was speaking at the
International Symposium on “Trade in Primary Products and
Competition Policy” organised by CUTS here in Geneva today,
in association with the Centre for Economic Policy Research,
and the support of the Agencie Francaise Developpement and
the European Commission under its PEGGED programme.
The one day symposium
facilitated by the World Trade Organisation and opened by
its Deputy Director General Alejandro Jara who provided the
larger context of the debate on issues at the interface of
trade and competition policy in his keynote address.
Ramamurti Badrinath, Director,
CUTS Geneva Resource Centre, welcomed the participants and
outlined the objective of the Symposium as enhancing the
understanding about the existing challenges in the
functioning of primary product markets so as to evolve a
comprehensive economic governance regime to address
anti-competitive behaviour and other related concerns. The
symposium heard presentations and comments from about twenty
international trade and competition experts and was attended
by representatives of Geneva country missions, international
and non-governmental organisations, and academic
institutions.
The Symposium was divided into
four substantive sessions, chaired by Ambassador Tim Yeend
of Australia, Guillermo Valles, Director, Trade Division of
UNCTAD, Michael Plummer, Head Development Division of OECD,
and Flavio Damico, Deputy Permanent Representative of Brazil
to the WTO.
Simon Evenett, Professor at the
University of St. Gallen, Switzerland spoke on the need to
strengthen provisions in the WTO against export
prohibitions. According to him, in the absence of such
provisions, the number of export prohibitions by countries
in 2011 will soon reach the heights witnessed in 2008.
Aradhna Agarwal, Director, CUTS and Head, CUTS Centre for
Competition, Investment and Economic Regulation, presented a
recent study by CUTS that has documented the adverse impacts
of export cartels and export prohibitions on importing
developing countries. She also argued for effective
international action against export cartels including
through better multilateral regime on competition and
against anticompetitive practices.
Ramamurthi Badrinath of CUTS
concluded the Symposium by outlining an agenda for future
work based on the rich discussions during the Symposium.
This will include: more empirical work to understand the
specificities of the primary product markets, clearer and
stronger advocacy with policy makers for better policies to
deal with export cartels and export prohibitions,
discussions on good and bad practices at neutral fora, and
persuading both the governments and the private sector to
refrain from indulging in anticompetitive behavior. CUTS
will continue to work with its partners to take this agenda
forward. .
This news can
also be viewed at:
http://www.tnpp.org/
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See Also
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Upcoming Events
Regional Conference “A Scoping Study on the Impact of
Climate Change and Food Insecurity on Poverty in South Asia”
January 11, 2011, Magnolia, India Habitat Centre,
New Delhi, India
Outcome Mapping for Programme and Project Planning
February 15-17, 2011,
Hotel Jaipur Palace, Jaipur, India
Conference on Reviewing the Global Experience with Economic
Regulation
April 18-20, 2011,
New Delhi,
India
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