II REGIONAL SEMINAR UNCTAD-SELA ON TRADE AND COMPETITION PROPOSES CREATION OF REGIONAL WORKING GROUP

Caracas, 3 June 2010 - The II Regional Seminar UNCTAD-SELA on Trade and Competition, held in Brasilia from 26 to 28 May at the headquarters of the Administrative Council for Economic Defence (CADE) of the Brazilian government, brought together authorities of organizations for defence of competition and experts from the Ministries of Foreign Trade of Latin American and Caribbean countries.

As part of this event, sponsored by Brazilian competition authorities and the Secretariat of Tourism of Spain, participants exchanged experiences and analyses on national and subregional regulatory and institutional achievements in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) and on specific issues related to the implementation of competition law, the contribution of this topic to economic development, opportunities and challenges posed by the strengthening of rules and competition policies in commercial integration and convergence of Latin America and the Caribbean and the experience of the region in the implementation of the UN Set of Principles and Rules on Competition, in force since 1980.

In the context of this II Seminar, authorities of the region suggested the creation of a Latin American and Caribbean Working Group on Trade and Competition within the framework of the Latin American and Caribbean Economic System (SELA), to channel international cooperation mechanisms for the region, promote interaction among national authorities, support the convergence of regional integration and promote consultation and coordination of LAC in various international forums.

This Working Group would have the technical support of UNCTAD and SELA, under the current cooperation programme between these two bodies.

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