By Fatou Saho
The biennial Africa conference, which is known to be Africa’s biggest competition forum, commenced on Tuesday in The Gambia.
Hosted at the Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara International Conference Centre for the first time since its inception in 2014 in South Africa, the two-day conference was opened by the Gambia Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (GCCPC) and the Ecowas Regional Competition Authority (ERCA) under the theme “fostering competition for inclusive growth and sustainability in Africa”.
Addressing the conference, the minister of finance, Seedy Keita, expressed delight over hosting such an important forum in The Gambia and extended gratitude to other Ecowas member states represented at the conference.
“This conference will create an opportunity for us to rethink and come up with recommendations on how African countries can prioritise sound competition and consumer protection policies in their development agendas. I have no doubt that it will further create an avenue for well-grounded intellectual discussions on how we can all come together to establish meaningful policies that would regulate our market both in the short and long term,” he said.
The chairperson of the ACF, Doris Tsheps, commented on the launch of the two cross-country competition studies conducted by the ACF on international roaming charges and the pharmaceutical sector in Africa.
“The agenda for the next two days comprises a range of topics that are all relevant to the development of competition law. Your contribution to this conference is highly valued. It is through accumulative efforts that we will be able to ensure the success of this conference,” she said.
