​The Chairman of the Caricom Competition Commission (CCC), Dr Kusha Haraksingh, was selected to preside over the meeting on Strategies for Competition Advocacy at the 8th Annual Meeting of the Latin American Competition Forum in San Jose, Costa Rica on 8-9 September 2010.

The meeting featured a background paper by the Head of Competition Outreach of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and country presentations from Brazil, El Salvador and Chile, with the President of Spain’s Competition Agency as the lead discussant.

Under Dr Haraksingh’s chairmanship, the meeting examined the importance of intra government advocacy as a tool to tackle anti-competitive business practices and the relevance of market and sector specific studies as an advocacy instrument, as well as the importance of training in competition for judicial authorities. In this regard, the CCC has already conducted three important training sessions for judges in Caricom and has an ongoing programme in this area under the auspices of the Brussels based Trade.Com EU/ACP facility.

Advocacy is a core function of the CCC, alongside its investigative and adjudicatory responsibilities, to prevent cross-border anti-competitive business conduct and to enforce the rules of Competition as specified in the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas.

The Latin American Competition Forum is sponsored by the OECD and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and the CCC has participated in this forum since its inauguration in 2008.