Partners’ Meeting Geneva

A second general body meeting was held in Geneva on January 29, 2004. A number of presentations were made, working groups were convened, and the body discussed its agenda for the coming year. The Second general body meeting of INCSOC was carrying the theme “Engaging Civil Society in Promoting a Healthy Competition Culture”. Philippe Brusick of UNCTAD, stressed on the role of civil society organisations in convincing people in the developing countries of the need for competition legislation in the inaugural session. Four keynote addresses enlarged on the relevance of INCSOC in the era of globalisation. These were by David Lewis (Competition Tribunal, South Africa)-“Role of Civil Society in Cooperating with National Competition Authorities”; Philippe Brusick (UNCTAD, Geneva)-“Role of Civil Society Organizations in Promoting a Healthy Competition Culture and Relevance of INCSOC”; Philip Marsden (British Institute of International and Comparative Law, UK)-“Competition Issues with International Dimension: How to Tackle Them?” and Pierre Arhel (World Trade Organization, Geneva)-“Problems in Capacity Building of Competition Authorities in Developing Countries.”
Over 50 participants from least developed, developing and developed countries participated in the meeting, and engaged in the ensuing discussions. It was at this meeting that Pradeep Mehta and Allan Asher were elected as the first co-chairs of the Steering Committee and chairs of Working Group were also elected (names appended to the document). It was also determined to give a high priority to the publication of a World Competition Report by 2005.