OREANDA-NEWS.  September 18, 2014. The Head of the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS Russia, Igor Artemiev, opened the 40th session of the Interstate Council on Antimonopoly Policy (ICAP) in St Petersburg.

Participants included competition authorities of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, as well as representatives of the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) led by a member of Collegium – EEC minister Nurlan Aldabergenov, and Non-Profit Partnership for Competition Support in the CIS.

The Head of ICAP Secretariat, Deputy Head of a Directorate of CIS Executive Committee, Azam Usmanov, welcomed new Council members that joined the Council due to the changes in the antimonopoly policy of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, and informed them about the results of ICAP work. The new Head of the Agency for Antimonopoly Regulation at the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic, Bolsunbek Kazakov, is now ICAP co-chairman.

Azam Usmanov announced that Consultative Council for Consumer Protection will meet in October 2014 in Chisinau and the 13th session of ICAP Advertising Coordination Council will take place in the near future in Nizhny Novgorod.

Azam Usmanov also reminded that 2014 is the year of tourism. “It cannot be evaluated only from the economic point of view. Tourism encourages development of cooperation between countries”.

“Developing competition in this field is very important”, added Igor Artemiev. “For instance, this year the heads of the antimonopoly bodies of Turkey and Egypt came to “Competition Day in Russia” - countries that are very popular among Russian tourists. Our markets are closely interrelated, which means we have a field for joint activities”.

The results of the works of the Headquarters for Joint Cooperation were reported by its Head, Anatoly Golomolzin.

ICAP discussed the Report on the state of competition on the drug markets of the CIS member-states, drafted upon the results of joint efforts of the Headquarters and the International Working Group for studying the issues of competition in the pharmaceutical sector. The Report was approved in general. The final version will be forwarded to CIS Executive Committee for consideration in accord with the established procedures to draft proposals on improving national policies in the CIS countries and regulation of pharmaceutical markets in the CIS.

The Council also approved the areas of collaborative work with UNCTAD to form Regional and sectoral databases.

The day before, there was a Round Table on CIS database formed with materials from ICAP and the Headquarters for Joint Investigations in the CIS. Participants represented Russia, Austria and UNCTAD. It is planned to form sectoral databases on medicines, oil products, and telecommunications upon the results of the work of the relevant International Working Groups.

Participants also discussed preparing a report on the state of competition on the grain market in the CIS member-states and the Report on the results of monitoring food products prices. The issues will be additionally considered at ICAP and Headquarters sessions in Kyrgyzstan.

The Chairman of the Steering Committee of ICAP Advertising Coordination Council, Sergey Pilatov, put forward an idea to establish an honorable award – a medal “For the Useful in Advertising and Marketing Communications”. In 1882 Alexander III presented a similar medal stating “For the Useful” to Ludwig Metzel, a founder of the first Russian advertising agency who raised advertising to a professional level.

The idea was supported unanimously. The award will be given a proper status after some legal issues will be regulated.

Upon a proposal of Bolsunbek Kazakov, the next Council’s session will take place in mid-October in Kyrgyzstan.