CUTS International has been implementing a project entitled ‘Competition Reforms in Key Markets for Enhancing Social & Economic Welfare in Developing Countries’ (CREW Project), in four countries: Ghana, India, The Philippines and Zambia and across two common sectors: i) Staple Food and ii) Passenger Transport, with the support from DFID (United Kingdom) and BMZ (Germany) facilitated by GIZ (Germany). The aim of the project is to demonstrate tangible impacts of competitive markets on consumers and producers – and explain the same to policymakers (and development partners as well).
The agenda of this two-day final project conference has been developed based on the findings of the CREW project – which has highlighted the relevance of competition and regulatory reforms in meeting crucial social and economic welfare objectives in the countries. The attention of the international community now is focused towards developing road-maps for the achievement of some of the most challenging developmental goals – referred to as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The experience of the CREW project has given CUTS to explore the relevance of competition and regulatory reforms in pursuing SDGs, especially in developing and least developed countries. CUTS and its project partners DfID (UK), BMZ (Germany), GIZ (Germany) have also been able to attract the attention of other international organisation G-77 Secretariat, World Bank and OECD Secretariat to this event, and the above issue. Knowledge shared through this conference and the discourse would help highlight ways in competition and regulatory reforms can be used in contributing to the SDGs, a road-map for the international competition community to consider for the future. CUTS is fortunate to be able to host such an important event.