BRICS Working Group for the Research of Competition Issues in Food Markets

BRICS Working Group for the Research of Competition Issues in Food Markets

On February 10-11, Cairo (Egypt) will host the Meeting of the BRICS Working Group for the Research of Competition Issues in Food Markets. The event is organized by the International BRICS Competition Law and Policy Centre jointly with the Egyptian Competition Authority (ECA). The BRICS Working Group for the Research of Competition Issues in Food Markets is co-chaired by the FAS of Russia and the Competition Commission of South Africa.

Volatility of prices for agricultural commodities is a growing food security concern internationally, with the greatest burden of uncertainty falling on the developing and least developed countries, the most vulnerable regions of the planet.

At the meeting of the BRICS Coordination Committee on antimonopoly policy that took place on July, 2nd 2024 in Geneva as part of Russia`s BRICS Chairship, the competition authorities of the BRICS countries supported the idea of undertaking a BRICS-wide inquiry into global grain trade to the extent it affects their national markets. That was confirmed by the latest meeting of the BRICS WG on Food Markets in Johannesburg on September 3rd, 2024.

Deciphering concentrated areas of global food value chains and remedying the negative effects of concentration is a task for competition authorities that are well-positioned to deal with anticompetitive abuses of economic power by incumbent, concentrated market players. With this meeting, the BRICS competition authorities, academics and high-level experts from the international organizations will review the interim results of the ongoing study, discuss the systemic problems in the functioning of the global food value chain and grain trade in particular and focus on the possible advancement in competition mechanisms to ensure food security. 

Day 1, February 10, 2025 

10.30 – 10.45 Welcome and Introduction

  • Mahmoud Momtaz, Chairman, Egyptian Competition Authority
  • Hardin Ratshisusu, Deputy Commissioner, Competition Commission of South Africa
  • Teresa Moreira, Head, Competition and Consumer Policies Branch, UNCTAD 

10.45 – 12.15 Global Context of Grain Trade: Challenges for the BRICS Countries

Moderator: Mahmoud Momtaz, Chairman, Egyptian Competition Authority

Speakers:

  • Alexey Ivanov, Director, BRICS Competition Law and Policy Centre
  • Anastasia Nesvetailova, Head, Macroeconomic and Development Policies Branch, UNCTAD/GDS
  • Michael Obersteiner, Director, Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford
  • Ahmad Mukhtar, Senior Economist, FAO
  • Alexey Gerasyuk, Vice-president, Saint-Petersburg International Mercantile Exchange

 12.45 – 15.00 BRICS Joint Initiatives in Global Grain Market Study 

Moderator: Alexey Ivanov, Director, BRICS Competition Law and Policy Centre

Speakers:

  • Mahmoud Momtaz, President, Egyptian Competition Authority
  • Hardin Ratshisusu, Deputy Commissioner, Competition Commission of South Africa
  • Tatyana Gonyukova, Deputy Head of Division, Department for International Economic Cooperation / Yulia Kokunova, Head, Department for Agroindustrial Complex, FAS Russia 
  • Willard Mwemba, Director and Chief Executive Officer, COMESA Competition Commission (virtual)

Day 2, February 11, 2025

10.00 – 12.00 Meeting on the preparation of the 9th BRICS International Competition Conference (September 16 – 19, Cape Town) with participation of BRICS competition authorities and BRICS Competition Law and Policy Centre

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