The draft competition law will be placed before the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs in November to get it enacted by January next year, Commerce Minister Faruk Khan said.
“Within next three to four months, the nation will have the competition law,” the minister said expressing hope that when enacted, a fair competitive market situation will gradually be established in the country.
The minister said this Saturday while inaugurating the first ever course on Competition Policy and Law organized by the United International University (UIU) at its campus. Chaired by UIU Vice Chancellor Dr M Rezwan Khan, the function was addressed among others by Competition Policy Advisor of IFC, Dr Rughvir Shyam Khemani and Pradeep Singh Mehta ,general secretary of Indian company CUTS , which is conducting training courses.
The commerce minister said the draft competition has been prepared after consulting with all stakeholders including international experts and is expected to perform well to establish fair competition in business.
He said as there is lack of understanding about the law, the government was counting on the opinions of the experts to draft the law and hoped that it would help serve both business and consumers.
“The government is sincere to establish a fair competition business environment in the country,” Faruk Khan said.
The commerce minister said prices of commodities in the global market and use of technology have become major challenges for the developing countries like Bangladesh and it is necessary to learn about the subjects to operate the market properly.
The minister expressed his confidence that the UIU course on competition law would help develop understanding and expertise about the law among academicians, government officials, lawyers and business leaders as it is important for proper implementation of the law.
Farukh Khan criticised the media for reporting on sugar price hike without reviewing the frequently changing prices in the global commodity market and urged them to increase their understanding about changed market scenario to report accurately.