BACKGROUND
By invitation of the Latin American and Caribbean Economic System (SELA) and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), two regional seminars on trade and competition for Latin America and the Caribbean were held in April 2009 and May 2010 in Caracas and Brasilia, respectively. Both meetings were attended by officials in charge of trade and competition of the Member States of SELA, as well as officials from UNCTAD and other multilateral organizations such as the World Trade Organization (WTO).
As a result of the meeting held in Brazil, the Member States of SELA recommended the Latin American Council to create the Working Group on Trade and Competition in Latin America and the Caribbean (WGTC). Through Decision N° 519 of the XXXVI Regular Meeting of the Latin American Council of SELA, in October 2010, the Group was formally established, with the Permanent Secretariat of SELA and the General Secretariat of UNCTAD acting as Executive Secretariat and Technical Secretariat, respectively.
The First Meeting of the Working Group took place in Bogotá, Colombia, in July 2011, with the purpose of confirming and formalizing it as a unique regional forum of authorities specialized in trade and competition for cooperation, consultation and regional coordination in that field.
The Second Meeting was carried out in Lima, Peru, in June 2012. There, a discussion was conducted on clauses of the regional trade integration agreements on competition, public procurement and their relationship with competition, as well as the challenges posed by cross-border anti-competitive practices for Latin American and Caribbean countries.
The Third Meeting, held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in September 2013, was focused on trade and competition in the energy and hydrocarbons market, institutional capacity building, competition policy in the telecommunications sector, the benefits of competition policy in the supply of goods and services, the promotion of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), inter-institutional cooperation and recent legislative reforms in the area of trade and competition in Latin American and Caribbean countries.
The Fourth Meeting was conducted in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, in November 2014. The issues discussed were: disputes of Latin American and Caribbean countries at the WTO and the issues underlying competition policy, trade and competition in the food market, collusion and transparency in government procurement, air transport, communication media as strategic tools for promoting competition, competition policy and trade facilitation measures, as well as a space to discuss the future of the Working Group on Trade and Competition.
The Fifth Meeting, held in Manta, Ecuador, in December 2015, addressed the regulation of competition in the context of regional and subregional integration agreements of Latin America and the Caribbean, competition and intellectual property in the field of medicines, non-tariff measures and their impact on competition, and effects of the informal sector on trade and competition.
The Sixth Meeting of the WGTC was held from 2 to 4 November 2016 on Roatan Island, Honduras, and focused on the harmonization of regulatory frameworks in the field of trade and competition in Latin American and Caribbean subregional integration mechanisms and the treatment of dumping by trade and competition laws.
