DANIIL FESYUK: THE STATE MUST PROVIDE THE CONDITIONS FOR SHAPING A COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT

The intermediary results of fulfilling the National Competition Development Plan and introducing antimonopoly compliance in the Yamalo-Nenetsky Autonomous District

On 22 August 2019, representatives of FAS regional bodies from the Urals Federal District attended in a regional workshop in Salekhard. The event was moderated by Head of Yamalo-Nenetsky OFAS, Andrey Rogozhkin.

Opening the event, Deputy Head of FAS Daniil Fesyuk said: “We are glad that today we have an opportunity to organize our event with Heads of FAS regional Offices and regional authorities on the site offered by the leadership of the Yamalo-Nenetsky Autonomous District. Such events not only allow us to discuss issues related to developing regional economy in the context of competition support, but also exchange opinions, share the accumulated experience and, what is essential, obtain feed-back”.

“This meeting is a chance to analyze with competent experts the basic trends in our region, which to a considerable extent depend on the nature-resource and climatic factors. It is essential to take them into account in the antimonopoly and economic policy”, stated Alexander Kalinin, Deputy Governor of the Yamalo-Nenetsky Autonomous District. “Due to large infrastructure projects, development of a transport network, federal and regional market players are becoming increasingly more interested in our region. Production of construction materials and the service sector have big potential in terms of competition growth”.

According to Deputy Head of FAS, “competition development is the key factor of economic growth both at the regional and the national levels. Competition development means more than just adopting the antimonopoly laws. A competitive environment should be formed, first of all, directly by market players through market mechanisms, while the state must enable and shape the necessary conditions. Only this combination will facilitate a sustainable growth and enhance economic efficiency. Supporting Russian producers and their entry to the global markets will also be conducive to economic development”.

Deputy Head of FAS also reminded about the main goals and objectives of 2018-2020 National Competition Development Plan, including the targets for competition development on the key markets.

For instance, in 2018 the Yamalo-Nenetsky Autonomous Districtincreased procurement from small and medium companies and socially-oriented non-profit organizations by 18.16%, reaching 40.80% of total procurement. In 2017 procurement from small and medium business was only 22.64 %.

“The Yamalo-Nenetsky Autonomous District is now on the 6 place among regions by the growth of procurement from small and medium business. This is one of the key targets of the National Competition Development Plan. Hopefully, the Government of the Yamalo-Nenetsky Autonomous District will continue holding the bar high and undertaking robust efforts in its aspiration to achieve the best results”, emphasized Daniil Fesyuk. “At the same time, we see an insignificant decrease of the number of unitary enterprises, which was only 1.23% last year. It signals that more work must be done to develop competition in the region”.

The parties also discussed the system for preventing antimonopoly violations by the authorities. The Government of the Yamalo-Nenetsky Autonomous Districtis working in this direction.

Deputy Head of FAS informed that “preventing violations seems to be the most important for FAS and here we are always open for a dialogue”.

Director of the Economy Department of the of the Yamalo-Nenetsky Autonomous District, Svetlana Guseva; Deputy Head of FAS Legal Department, Konstantin Alyoshin; Head of Tyumen OFAS, Igor Veretennikov;  and Head of Sverdlovsk OFAS, Dmitry Shalabodov also took part in the event.