ASEAN will organise the 5th ASEAN Competition Conference (ACC) between June 4 and 5 in Ho Chi Minh City themed “Advancing Competition Policy and Law Post-2015: Progress, Opportunities and Challenges”, said the ASEAN Secretariat on June 3.

Conference attendees include representatives of competition-related governmental bodies, non-governmental organisations, business associations, academicians and businessmen. A wide range of topics will be discussed, such as the emerging competition landscape in the ASEAN, how to foster a competitive and competition-aware region as well as a strategy for post-2015.

The conference is expected to build regional awareness of the significance of Competition Policy and Law (CPL) towards strengthening the bloc’s economic integration, given fair competition is essential to speed up regional market integration following the formation of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) by the end of 2015.

The 5th ACC will be hosted by the Vietnam Competition Authority (VCA) and co-sponsored by the Economic Cooperation Support Programme (AECSP), the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area (AANZFTA) and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

Since 2011, the ACC has been held annually to provide a viable platform for experts and relevant stakeholders to share best practices and discuss emerging issues on CPL in the region.

The 4th ACC took place in the Philippines last year themed “Building blocks for Effective Enforcement of CPL”.-VNA