UNCTAD Deputy Secretary General Petko Draganov headed a group of competition experts at a 29 January meeting with Ukrainian President Viktor F. Yanukovych.
Ukraine has volunteered for an UNCTAD Competition Policy Peer Review, which will be carried out during a meeting of the Intergovernmental Group of Experts on Competition Policy, to be held in Geneva in July 2013.
The peer review will assist the government in finalizing a ten-year competition policy programme which is a key component of the economic reform package launched by the new government of President Yanukovych.
 Ukrainian President, Viktor F. Yanukovych with UNCTAD Deputy Secretary-General, Petko Draganov |
Mr. Draganov, accompanied by experts from UNCTAD and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), briefed the President on the preliminary findings of the UNCTAD peer review and shared with him the outcomes of high-level consultations held on the previous day in Kiev, the Ukrainian capital. The consultations were with the executive branch of the government.
These consultations were chaired by Ihor Praslov, Minister of Economic Development and Trade, and by Iryna Akimova, Deputy Head of Presidential Economic Office.
In his briefing to the President, Mr. Draganov commended the Government for its ten-year plan of economic reforms and reaffirmed UNCTAD's commitment, in cooperation with development partners, to continue to assist Ukraine in implementing the reforms, which aim at helping the country to establish a solid foundation for economic growth and prosperity.
Mr. Draganov also discussed with Minister Praslov and with Vassyl Shushko, Chairman of the Government's Antimonopoly Committee, Ukraine' s application to join the OECD and the current Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations with the EU.
The Ukraine peer review report, which was initially prepared by Prof. William Kovacic of the United States and by Katharina Plath of Germany, will be presented to a group of peer reviewers from developed and developing countries during the UNCTAD annual meeting of the IGE from 8 to 12 July.
During the meeting, Ukraine also will present its programme of economic reforms and outline the steps it intends to take to implement the peer review recommendations.
The State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) of Switzerland, which is funding the peer review, also will fund some of the activities arising from the recommendations contained in the UNCTAD-SECO Global COMPAL (Competition and Consumer Protection for Latin America). This new project will expand the scope of UNCTAD activities to include seven countries from Africa, Asia and economies in Transition.
