Russia-Norway Intergovernmental Commission discussed the prospects of further cooperation between the two countries

The main agenda included the Memorandum on Cooperation in the field of competition between FAS and Norway Competition Authority

The XVII session of Russia-Norway Intergovernmental Commission on economic, industrial and scientific-and-technological cooperation chaired by the Ministry of the Russian Federation for Natural Resources and the Environment, Sergey Donskoi, and Norway Minister of Trade and Industry, Monica Maeland, took place in Moscow on 20 April 2017.

FAS was represented by Deputy Head of the Department for International Economic Cooperation – Head of the International Projects Unit, Alexandra Turbina, and the leading Department expert on international projects, Anastasia Dokukina.

Alexandra Turbina thanked Ms. Monica Maeland and the Norwegian side for the readiness to discuss the prospects of bilateral cooperation between FAS and Norway Competition Authority, and for including in the agenda and the Protocol of the Commission session a clause on further work towards signing the Memorandum of Understanding in the field of competition between FAS and Norway Competition Authority.

FAS and Norway have been in long-lasting productive cooperation under the frame of joint investigation of a Norwegian fish case in 2013. In winter 2017 FAS representatives visited Norway where they held talks with top officers of the competition authority.

Earlier Norway Competition Authority expressed an interest and consent to sign the joint Memorandum. The draft Memorandum is currently under consideration by the Norway Minister of Trade and Industry.

Ms. Monica Maeland said the Memorandum is important for both countries because such agreements improve competitive environments in our countries, increase the level of the population well-being and expand the trade-and-economic relations between Russia and Norway, which will have a favourable impact upon both economies. She assured that the decision with regard to the draft Memorandum proposed by Russia will be made in the near future.

Deputy Head of FAS Andrey Tsyganov pointed out: “Developing bilateral cooperation with competition authorities of foreign countries is an integral part of international FAS activity. Cooperation with Norway competition authority is going forward not only in the form of general bilateral contacts but also in the format of information exchange in the course of investigating particular cases on violations the Federal Law “On Protection of Competition”. Therefore, there is a need for the relevant legal formalization of the mechanisms of our cooperation. Hopefully, the Memorandum will be signed in the near future”.