The yearly gathering between 21 competition agencies across the Pacific will address the economic challenges from COVID-19, digital economy, and climate change.
The Trade Competition Commission of Thailand is pleased to announce that, Thailand, as the APEC 2022 host economy, will organize the annual meeting of the APEC Competition Policy and Law Group (CPLG) on 18 February 2022.
With The Commission’s Vice Chairman, Mr. Krisda Piampongsant as the chair of the Group, this year, the CPLG will focus on 3 thematic areas: 1) the enhancement of competition enforcement in the digital markets, 2) the alignment of competition policy with sustainable development goals, and 3) the development of legal instruments supporting economic recovery during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, especially towards the maintenance of the level-playing field in the markets for MSMEs.
With COVID-19 still posing substantial economic hurdles in the region, the CPLG meeting will facilitate the important discussions among APEC competition authorities on competition challenges exacerbated by the pandemic, as well as the digital transformation of the economy.
Due to its fast-paced nature and constant evolution, the digital markets pose new and unique challenges for competition law enforcement throughout the region. This year’s CPLG meeting aims to produce a capacity building framework for competition agencies to meet these challenges in this increasingly important sector.
And later this year, the Commission will be hosting a policy workshop titled “Competition Policy and Sustainable Development” for competition agencies and interested stakeholders across the Pacific region. The workshop’s objective is to gather a consensus among competition enforcers on the best approach to aligning competition policy and enforcement with green innovation and sustainable business choices. The report emanating from the workshop will provide a blueprint for new regulation and enforcement tools or policy development that contribute to the realization of the Bio-Circular-Green Economy which is Thailand’s APEC host priority in 2022.
APEC’s main mission is supporting free, fair, inclusive, and sustainable economic growth. The CPLG and the Trade Competition Commission of Thailand are determined to play a key role in the achievement of this goal. The CPLG meeting and the Workshop on Competition Policy and Sustainable Development will make significant contributions to APEC under Thailand’s leadership theme of 2022, “Open, Connect, Balance.”
