OREANDA-NEWS. October 20, 2011. A delegation of FAS Russia, led by the Head of FAS Igor Artemyev, took part in the International Conference on Competition Policy, timed to coincide with the 20-year anniversary of the Commonwealth of Independent States, independence of the Republic of Kazakhstan and formation of the antimonopoly body in the Republic of Kazakhstan, reported the press-centre of FAS Russia.

The International Conference was attended by representatives of the authorities of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the antimonopoly bodies of the CIS member-states, Austria, China, Hungary, Romania, Serbia, etc., as well as representatives of “Promoting Development of Competition in CIS” Non-Commercial Partnership, representatives of academic and business circles.

The Conference was opened by the Chairman of the Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan for Protection of Competition, М. Yessenbayev, who also read a welcoming address on behalf of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev. Welcoming addresses were also delivered by the Head of Alma-Aty Authority, А.Yesimov, and the Head of the Secretariat of the Interstate Council for Antimonopoly Policy, A. Usmanov.

The International Conference had two sessions; the first focused on effective practice of cartel exposure, the second – on competition advocacy.

At the session on cartels Igor Artemyev made a presentation “Combating Cartels is FAS Priority”.

The Head of Russian Antimonopoly Service informed Conference participants about the main FAS activities towards combating cartels, in particular, about the planned amendments to the law within the “third antimonopoly package”, related to improving methods for exposing and combating cartels, as well as about the latest cases investigated in close interaction with the law enforcement bodies.

Igor Artemyev also emphasized an important role of international cooperation with competition authorities in foreign countries and international organizations, specialized on competition policy (ICN, OECD, UNCTAD) and the closest partners – the antimonopoly authorities of CIS member-states in improving and developing methods for combating cartels.

“FAS efforts in this direction at the modern stage create all prerequisites for investigating not only national but also international cartels”, said Igor Artemyev.