Big and Small Competition Agencies Share Experiences at Agency Effectiveness Workshop in Gaborone, Botswana

Competition bodies and international agencies from more than 25 countries descended in Gaborone from March 10^th to 11^th for the International Competition Network (ICN) Agency Effectiveness Working Group Workshop which was hosted by Botswana’s Competition Authority. More than 120 participants attended the two day workshop and discussed among others agency ethics, strategy and planning and enforcement tools and procedures.

The workshop was officially opened by the Minister of Trade and Industry Honourable Vincent Seretse who expressed delight that the ICN, which is an association of competition authorities in the world, found it fit to bring such an outstanding workshop to Botswana. He said the workshop accorded an opportunity for small and developing competition authorities to create useful networks and assist in achieving their objectives. “Dedicated set of sessions and panel discussions have the potential to contribute to the theory building in our competition policy and economic field. This diverse mix is good for learning and lifelong professional networking” the Minister said.

He said the Government of Botswana is equally desirous of ensuring that there is sound corporate governance, transparency and accountability in the management and operations of the competition agencies.  “For this reason, the Government recently signed a Shareholder Compact with our Competition Authority and Competition Commission to ensure that we have clear lines of engagement, responsibilities and expectations that are pragmatic and auditable.  I reckon this is part of the agency effectiveness” said Honourable Seretse. Participants were further informed that the Competition Act of 2009 is being reviewed to provide for a more effective enforcement and adjudication process.

The Keynote Address was delivered by Professor William Kovacic, Non-Executive Director, UK Competition and Markets Authority who said competition agencies should measure their level of effectiveness not with their level of activity, but with their contribution to the economic performance of their countries.

He said key to assessing effectiveness is evaluation of programmes and processes which interrogate what worked and what did not, assessment of programme outputs and operations as well as consultation with external experts and peer review.

Professor Kovacic implored agencies to make investments in capacity through appropriate agency infrastructure, research and development as well as partnerships with academic research centres. He further called for the autonomy and independence of agencies in making decisions on competition matters.