FAS and Iran National Competition Council agreed to actively exchange experiences

The Federal Antimonopoly Service and Iran National Competition Council are ready for mutual support for developing antimonopoly law and competition

On 20 September 2017, Head of the Federal Antimonopoly Service Igor Artemiev had talks with Chairman of the National Competition Council of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Reza Shiva, in Veliky Novgorod. The meeting took part during the Competition Week in Russia and focused on cooperation between the competition authorities of the two countries.

“FAS is ready to support a younger competition agency - Iran National Competition Council on developing the antimonopoly law and competition in Iran. In order to strengthen our cooperation, I suggest considering a possibility of singing a Memorandum of Understanding”, saidIgor Artemiev, greeting his foreign colleague. Reza Shiva supported an initiative of Russian competition authority on signing the Memorandum and expressed the interest in joint efforts.

Igor Artemiev proposed to organize a workshop for Iranian companies operating in Russia on competition law in Russia, and invited offers of Iran National Competition Council to study FAS experience in antimonopoly regulation in different sectors of the economy on the basis of FAS Centre for Education and Methodics in Kazan and directly at FAS. He also pointed out that FAS cooperates closely with Russian universities; so far, around 40 specialized Departments are opened.

Reza Shiva pointed out that these proposals will be useful for Iranian companies in Russia as well as for the staff of Iran competition body, and will allow learning FAS experience in antimonopoly regulation. He added: “Developing competition will reduce unemployment and improve the level of well-being of the population”.

Finally, Deputy Head of FAS Andrey Tsyganov invited Iranian colleagues to take part in the international events organized by FAS.  In his turn, Reza Shiva invited representatives of Russian competition authority to visit Iran and learn about the work of the National Competition Council of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

The parties reached arrangements about readiness for joint projects, bilateral experience-exchanging events and further productive cooperation.