This year, India is playing a special role on the international stage. In addition to its G20 presidency, in October the country hosts the VIII BRICS International Competition Conference, which is held every two years. The International BRICS Competition Law and Policy Centre at the National Research University Higher School of Economics is involved in developing the program and organizing the conference. Recently the director of the center Alexey Ivanov became a member of the International Advisory Board of India's oldest CUTS Centre for Competition Investment & Economic Regulation.
Competition advocacy and economic development is the domain of the International Advisory Board of the Centre for Competition, Investment and Economic Regulation — CUTS International (Consumer Unity & Trust Society), India's oldest academic centre dedicated to consumer issues.
CUTS is represented by a network of international offices around the world. The International Advisory Board is made up of leading experts in antitrust regulation, academics and practitioners. This year Alexey Ivanov, director of the BRICS Centre, became the twenty-first member of the Board and the only representative from Russia.
In addition to the Head of the Board, Chair of the Competition Law and Policy Committee of the OECD Frederick Jenney, the Board includes William Kovacic, former Chair of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and currently Director of the George Washington University Competition Law Center, Eleanor Fox, Professor of Law at New York University and one of the most respected scholars in the field of antitrust law and other international academics from Europe, the United States and the BRICS.
During his visit to CUTS International headquarters in Jaipur, Alexey Ivanov gave an academic lecture to CUTS staff on new approaches to regulating digital ecosystems. In particular, the results of the current phase of the "ecoantitrust" project, which the BRICS Centre is implementing together with the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), were presented. He also discussed further cooperation and organization of joint academic seminar on trends in antitrust regulation and new challenges for competition advocacy with the CUTS senior management in New Delhi.
In New Delhi Alexey Ivanov met with the leadership of the Competition Commission of India (CCI), where he strengthened the agreements on cooperation between the centre and the agency and the involvement of the centre in the preparation for the VIII BRICS Competition Conference, which India is hosting this year.
The final item on the program was a meeting with Suresh Prabhu, a former member of the Indian Cabinet, formerly a member of the Skolkovo Foundation Board, and current G20 and G7 Sherpa to the Indian Prime Minister. Suresh Prabhu is the founding Chancellor of Rishihood University. Alexey Ivanov discussed with Mr. Prabhu the prospects for cooperation between HSE and Rishihud and the organization of BRICS Centre events at the university.
"We are trying to evenly develop cooperation with the antitrust communities of all BRICS countries. Our Centre has already organized international conferences in South Africa and Brazil, where strong partner networks have been formed, and this year we plan to work more closely with India. India currently holds the G20 presidency and our work is in line with the priorities of the presidency — the search for unity and the implementation of the international agenda in the interests of the developing world. CUTS has been a trusted partner for many years and it is an honour to join the International Advisory Board in the company of the world's top anti-monopoly luminaries,”
commented Alexey Ivanov
Source: HSE
