The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) is organising first national conference on competition regime in Pakistan in Karachi on January 11-12. The two-day conference will provide a platform for exchange of information on a number of competition-related issues in four major sectors of the country's economy - sugar, energy, banking, and automobile.
Apart from the professional sessions on these four sectors, which will be addressed by industrial representatives, sector regulators and officials of the CCP, a session on "Multinational reach of competition laws: the need for regional co-operation" will also be held, which will be addressed by former member and acting Chairman of the Competition Commission of India Vinod Dhall, CCP Chairman Khalid Mirza and others.
The CCP has already started registration of the participants of the conference and uploaded a registration form on its website, www.cc.gov.pk. The registration will be on first-come-first-serve basis. The conference is expected to further accelerate the CCP's efforts to promote competition through advocacy and garner the support of the stakeholders.
The commission has invited Indian Competition Commission Agency Chairman Dhanendra Kumar to attend the two-day conference. Besides, the conference will be attended by leading national and international experts on competition laws. The conference will be spread over eight professional sessions, besides the opening and concluding sessions, focusing on different sectors. The professional sessions will focus on sugar, banking, energy and automobile sectors.
The speakers will include representatives of the industries and professionals. The conference would help in getting direct feedback from the industry about the competition issues and identify vulnerabilities in various sectors. Khalid Mirza said the CCP had adopted a proactive advocacy strategy and so far a number of activities had been organised nation-wide for the awareness of a range of stakeholders.
The conference would provide a platform for exchange of information on a number of competition-related issues in various sectors. With the involvement of business community, the conference is expected to bridge gap between the commission and all its stakeholders.