Competition policy and public procurement in developing countries

Measures to support Competition Policy and enhance the efficiency of Public Procurement can enhance the impact of regional integration agreements. The first part addresses Competition Policy - measures employed by government to ensure a fair competitive market environment. Competition policy aims to ensure that markets remain competitive (through anti-trust or anti-cartel enforcement) or become competitive (through liberalisation). For a variety of reasons, competition is often restricted in developing countries and there are benefits from establishing some level of competition policy. Although the literature does not provide a blueprint, it provides guidance on the most useful ways to incorporate Competition Policy in regional agreements. The second part addresses issues in opening up public procurement and outlines the main potential sources of welfare gains. Open and transparent procurement can bring gains in terms of price reduction, competition and reduced corruption. While developing countries recognize these benefits for domestic policy, they appear opposed to including procurement commitments in international agreements. -- Competition Policy ; Public Procurement ; Regional Integration