GEO
Three-day event was jointly organized by Georgian Competition and Consumer Agency, Georgian National Energy and Water Supply Regulatory Commission, the National Bank of Georgia, Communications Commission and Insurance State Supervision Service of Georgia.
At the conference, the Vice Prime Minister of Georgia, Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development - Mr. Levan Davitashvili; Minister of Internally Displaced Persons from Occupied Territories, Health Labour and Social Affairs - Mr. Zurab Azarashvili; Chairmen of the Sectoral Economy and Economic Policy Committee of the Parliament - Mr. Davit Songhulashvili; Chairman of the Human Rights Protection and Civil Integration Committee of the Parliament - Mr. Mikheil Sarjveladze; delivered the welcome speech.
The conference was opened by leaders of international organizations that lead the areas of competition and consumer rights protection: William Kovacic – professor of University of Washington in the field of global competition law and policy, director of the center for competition law, former head of the US Federal Trade Commission; Teresa Moreira, head of competition and consumer policy at UNCTAD; Ori Schwartz, head of the OECD competition department.
A high level panel was held with the participation of the heads of five regulatory autorities, where the results, achievements and challenges in the field of competition and protection of consumer rights were presented.
The conference welcomed about 20 delegations of different countries, including representatives of colleague authorities, local and international experts, representatives of public authorities, regulatory bodies, academia and business sector. The UNCTAD session on consumer rights protection and OCED session on competition policy were held. Also, in order to strengthen cooperation between counterpart agencies of competition and consumer rights a memorandum signing ceremony was conducted.
At the event, the participants discussed the mechanisms of competition law, consumer rights protection and the activities carried out by regulatory authorities. In parallel breakout sessions, the participants discussed the following main issues: competition policy and sustainable development, regulated markets and inter-agency cooperation; trade policy and indirect mechanisms supporting competition; current trends and main challenges in the field of consumer rights protection - experience of Georgia and European countries; effective mechanisms of concentration control; agreements restricting competition, effective detection and prevention mechanisms, etc.
The purpose of the annual conference "Competition and Consumer Rights" is to strengthen the competition policy in Georgia and improve consumer rights mechanisms.
