The event was held on theme -" Fostering Competition for Inclusive Growth and Sustainability in Africa".
The ACF Biennial Conference serves as a platform for competition authorities across the African continent to come together, exchange knowledge, share experiences, and collaborate in the development of effective competition policies and practices. It also creates an opportunity for professionals to engage and learn and thus contribute towards developing solutions to enhance the effectiveness of competition regulation in Africa.
The African Competition Forum (ACF) is an informal network of African national and multinational competition authorities and the principal objective of the ACF is to promote the adoption of competition principles in the implementation of national and regional economic policies of Africa.
At the biennial forum, Ms. Yassin Senghore, chairperson of The Gambia Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, revealed that the conference is to create an opportunity to discuss the challenges competition authorities across Africa faced and the need for prioritisation based on the urgent needs of our citizenry.
"I am glad that to see the vast amount of expertise in all the sessions in the program agenda and I am convinced that the discussions will proffer a lot of solutions for the African continent." she added.
Ms. Senghore, however, reminded that signing and adoption of the Competition Protocol of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area welcomes a new era of cooperation amongst competition agencies operating in the Free Trade Area.
“This is essential in creating a single market for goods and services in Africa with the ultimate goal of increasing trade within the continent and boosting economic growth. I hope this conference will lead to the strengthening of work relationships between the national Competition Authorities and Regional Competition Authorities in a bid to promote and enforce competition across Africa effectively and efficiently. We know that Governments cannot do it all alone and therefore the participation of the Regional Competition Authorities complement Government's efforts" she stated.
For his part, Baboucarr Ismaila Joof, minister for Trade, Industry, Regional Integration and Employment, expressed delight for the country to host the event and for becoming one of the first countries in west African Region to establish an independent competition Commission.
"The GCCPC becomes a model to many African countries within the region and it is worth mentioning that the promotion and enforcement is one of the priorities of The Gambia government as it is now been streamed in the government policies and programs." he noted.
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