The Competition Authority will hold a National Stakeholders Conference at the GICC on March 15, under the theme “Creating Wealth Through Fair Competition”. The conference will be officially opened by the Minister of Trade and Industry, Dorcas Makgato-Malesu.
The purpose of the conference is to create a platform for the Competition Authority to engage with key stakeholders. It will draw participants from business, mining, manufacturing, agriculture, labour, aviation, government, academia and politics.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Competition Authority, Thula Kaira, will lead his team to introduce the mandate of the Competition Authority.
The conference will be taken through salient features of competition law such as investigations, mergers and monopolies and the various research studies that the agency will embark upon in order to fulfill its mandate.
Participants will not only be subjected to the Competition Authority extolling its assignment. The highlight of the conference will be, without doubt, the presentations and discussions during plenary sessions from the various sectors of the economy. The business peoples’ voice, BOCCIM, will address the conference on the gains and challenges anticipated by business with the advent of competition law.
Although competition law has just been introduced in Botswana, the transactions that have been done between the Competition Authority and enterprises have some instructive lessons and these are expected to generate an interesting debate from conference participants. Key economic sectors, such as mining and manufacturing, will also make presentations on how competition is likely to impact their sectors. The conference will further interrogate the symbiotic relationship between Labour and Business with presentations from Labour.
Findings from a BIDPA study on the state of the poultry business in Botswana will be presented at the conference. Excerpts from the study have been published in the local media and the conference will provide an opportunity for further debate on competition issues raised by the study.
The South African Competition Commission, which is regarded by many in the region as an epitome of success in efficiently dealing with competition issues, will have an opportunity to share their experiences at the conference.