Lars-Gunnar Wigemark, Ambassador of EU delegation to Pakistan has urged to increase trade between Pakistan and India to reduce tension between the two countries. Speaking at a seminar organised by the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) on the occasion of World Competition Day-2014 here on Friday, EU Ambassador to Pakistan stated that the increase in trade between Pakistan and India would be instrumental in reducing tension between the two countries.
Wigemark said that regional economic trade had enormous potential particularly Pakistan's trade with neighbouring countries like India, Afghanistan and China. EU supported competition law in Pakistan and adequate resources to be provided to the CCP for a stronger competition agency in the country, he said. Referring to the SROs, he said Pakistan needed to get rid of the SROs as those were distorting competition, adding fair competition would improve governance through a strong and well performing competition regime in the country.
He stated that the government should continue with the economic reforms. He said EU companies would invest more in Pakistan provided competitive enforcement was made essential for the benefit of investors. Lars-Gunnar Wigemark further said Pakistan had such a competition agency that it could be proud of, adding that for the competition law to be effectively enforced it required a strong Competition Commission. He was of the view that Pakistan should get rid of discriminatory SROs.
He said that the CCP had an able leadership which was working towards tackling distortions in the market, and added that competition in various spheres of the economy would help grow Pakistan at a faster pace Dr Joseph Wilson, Chairman, CCP while addressing the audience stated the purpose of the seminar was to create awareness of competition law and enforcement issues. He stated that the promulgation of competition law in Pakistan, among other reasons, was the fulfilment of UN Resolutionm35/63 of the December 5, 1980.
Dr Joseph informed the audience that the current challenging economic conditions ensuring competitive markets and a level playing field for national and international players was extremely important to attract investment. He said Competition Act of Pakistan did envisage that combating private restraint in the market was not sufficient and that it was extremely important to review the effects of government regulations and actions. Therefore, in addition to the substantive enforcement provisions the Competition Law mandates the Commission to do competition advocacy.
The theme of the first session was "Unfair trade practices and loss to consumer welfare". Khalid Mirza, former Chairman CCP, while addressing the session stated that competition was the most significant charter, manga carta so to speak for the protection of consumers. Syma Ahmed, Assistant Professor, FC College University in her presentation talked about dark practices whereby companies use tricks to psychologically lead consumers into believing what is not in the best interest of consumers.
Saad Amanullah Khan, former CEO Gillette observed that strong institutions were like regulators, guardians like parents who needed to discipline children. "There should be open competition and a check on anti-competitive practices that lead to a dominant position." Dr Shahzad Ansar, CCP Member threw light on the new initiative of CCP in the areas dealing with the Office of Fair Trading. The second session was on the theme of "Public Restraints and its impact on Competition". The debate focused on how regulatory barriers such as tax and duty exemptions were hampering competition.
Dr Syed Ismail Shah, Chairman, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, gave the example of the telecom sector as a success story. He noted that there was modest growth in the telecom sector in the pre-deregulation period. He said PTA's approach had always been to promote competition in the telecom sector and competition in the telecom sector had increased after deregulation.
Dr Tariq Hassan, Advocate and former Chairman SECP noted that there were two types of restraints: public sector restraints and private sector restraints. He observed that the Competition Act, 2010 focused only on private sector restraints. Trade barriers, regulatory barriers, state-owned or state-sanctioned monopolies all represent public barriers to trade and commerce. Dr Manzoor Ahmad, Pakistan's former ambassador to the WTO, said some industries had strong lobby power so they lobbied for higher tariffs which reduced competition.
Mueen Batlay, Member CCP said "CCP wants to ensure the audience that all restraints, private or public, which hurt competition, have our attention. CCP has vast powers, and it is up to it to develop a competition policy and to ensure that the government policy is in line with competition policy."
Senator Ishaq Dar distributed shields to the speakers of the seminar. The seminar was attended by a large number by the government officials, regulatory organisations, and representatives of business community, trade associations, legal community, academia and media.
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