Dr. Manmohan Singh, Hon’ble Prime Minister of India will inaugurate 3rd BRICS International Competition Conference (ICC) on Thursday, the 21st November, 2013 in a function at New Delhi. The 2-day conference is being organised by Competition Commission of India (CCI) on behalf of BRICS countries in pursuance of the Beijing Consensus, New Delhi Declaration and Action Plan adopted at Fourth BRICS Leaders Summit in New Delhi on March 29, 2012. The theme of the 3rd BRICS ICC is “Competition Enforcement in BRICS Countries: Issues and Challenges”.

The conference is organized biennially by one of the BRICS competition authorities on behalf of the all the BRICS competition authorities. The first BRICS Competition Conference was organized in Kazan, Russia in September, 2009 following the first BRICS Summit in June 2009 in Yekaterinburg, Russia. The second BRICS ICC was organised in Beijing, China during 20-22 September, 2011 by the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC), China as per the mandate of second BRIC Leaders Summit in April, 2010 in Brasilia, Brazil. The theme was “Competition Enforcement under Economic Globalisation.”

The objective of the 3rd BRICS ICC is to discuss various issues and challenges in competition enforcement in BRICS countries and take the agenda of cooperation among the BRICS competition authorities forward from the earlier two conferences. During the two day conference, discussions would focus on issues and challenges in setting up an affective agency, enforcement vis-à-vis state owned enterprises, public procurement and creation of competition culture. A separate session has been provided for experience sharing by mature jurisdictions on the subject of role of Competition regulation in innovation and economic development.

Competition Commission of India (CCI) will also sign a MoU with European Union (EU) on competition issues. A Delhi Accord shall be signed with BRICS competition authorities on the second day of the conference on 22nd November, 2013.

Competition enforcement cooperation promotes regulatory collaboration and agreement signing among emerging economies to address agency design, state enterprises, procurement The conference advances competition enforcement cooperation through thematic discussions on agency design, enforcement involving state owned enterprises, public procurement, and competition culture, supplemented by experience sharing on competition's role in innovation. Operatively, participants will formalise cooperation by executing a memorandum of understanding with a regional partner and signing a multilateral accord among the participating competition authorities to strengthen cross border enforcement dialogue and technical cooperation.