A new stage of developing bilateral cooperation between the antimonopoly bodies of Russia and Belarus

On 22-23 August 2016, a FAS delegation led by the Head of the Department for International Economic Cooperation, Lesya Davydova visited Minsk (the Republic of Belarus).

The purpose of the visit was to discuss a draft memorandum of Understanding in the field of competition policy between FAS and the Ministry of Antimonopoly Regulation and Trade of the Republic of Belarus that comes into effect in September 2016.

The arrangements of drafting and signing the Memorandum were reached in July 2016 in Moscow at the meeting between the Head of FAS Igor Artemiev and the Trade Minister of Belarus, Vladimir Koltovich.

In the course of the Minsk discussions, the parties coordinated the main provisions of the Memorandum, including the objectives and the forms of cooperation.

Summing up the results, Lesya Davydova and Vladimir Koltovich were confident that signing the Memorandum shall be the next step of developing cooperation between the antimonopoly bodies of Russia and Belarus that is a well-established tradition. “Developing integration processes within the CIS and the Eurasian Economic Union has predetermined new directions for enhancing cooperation between our countries. At the same time, taking into account close friendly relationship between Russia and Belarus, signing the Memorandum will stimulate deepening the bilateral cooperation in competition policy under the frame of the Union state”, pointed out Lesya Davydova to highlight the outcome of the meeting.

It is expected that the Memorandum shall be signed in September 2016 at an international event – “The Competition Week in Russia” in the Moscow region.

Visiting Minsk the FAS delegation also participated in the Round Table on the “Role of exchange trading in implementing the state policy for procurement of goods (works, services)” at the Belorussian Universal Commodities Exchange (further on referred to as the Exchange).

The attendees learned about the goals and objectives of the Exchange as well as the main achievements of its operation in the ten-year period. A special emphasis was put on the role of the Exchange in supporting the performance of public procurement in Belarus, being the operator of the public procurement electronic system since 2011.

In 2016 the Exchange has become an operator of the electronic system for sale of the state property of the Republic of Belarus. According to the First Deputy Chairman of the Exchange Board, Oleg Yakubovich, who was the key speaker at the Round Table, within the short period of its existence the electronic system for sale of public property proved to be an efficient tool with excellent prospects for its further development.