PARIS, Feb 9: Competition and how it can be used to assist developing countries in developing their economic growth will be at the centre of the Second Global Forum on Competition that the Paris-based OECD (Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development) will be hosting in the French capital next week on 14-15 February.

Representatives from more than 60 countries, among them a number of internationally-known specialists as well as diplomats, are expected for the conference which will attempt to determine what action is needed for developing economies to implement effective competition laws and how they might best go about promoting international cooperation in, among other things, anti-trust investigations.

The OECD says that it’s been building on the experience of its own competition committee to provide assistance to non-member countries, a phenomenon that goes back to 1990, at first in central and eastern Europe, where the practice was first implemented, then in other regions of the world.

The Global Forum on Competition, says an OECD spokesman, “provides capacity-building and technical assistance,” but also “engages developing countries in informal dialogue on policy issues,” and this as part of the OECD’s broader programme of co-operation with governments around the world.

This year’s forum, he says, “will provide an opportunity for officials from developing countries to discuss the challenges they face with regard to introducing and implementing effective competition policies.” Then too, he adds, “we will review current studies on the relationship between competition and development, including those done by the OECD, which happens to find that competitive product markets are associated with other indicators of economic health such as lower unemployment.” Other issues to be addressed, he notes, “include the role of competition policy in realising the benefits of trade and investment liberalization.”

The forum is also scheduled to look at “the sort of assistance needed by developing countries in the field of competition policy,” and, says the spokesman, “how it can best be provided.” The importance of increasing such assistance, he notes, “was underscored at Doha, during the recent World Trade Organization ministerial meeting held at Qatar.”

Cooperation among the competition authorities of different countries will also be addressed, and stressed, notes the spokesman, especially because at present, he adds, “competition agencies are often unable to cooperate because they are not permitted to share information with their counterparts.”

Forum participants will include representatives from the 30 OECD countries (plus the European Union), the six observers to the Competition Law and Policy Committee (Argentina, Brazil, Israel, Lithuania, Russia and Chinese Taipei) and 27 invited governments: Algeria, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Chile, China, Egypt, Estonia, Gabon, Hong Kong China, Ivory Coast, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Latvia, Malaysia, Morocco, Peru, Romania, Senegal, Slovenia, South Africa, Thailand, Tunisia, Ukraine, Venezuela, Zambia and Vietnam. Representatives of regional organisations such as COMESA and UEMOA will also participate. Several non-governmental organizations as well as the OECD’s Business and Industry Advisory Committee and Trade Union Advisory Committee will attend most of the sessions.