The workshop to validate the study on defining a reference framework for the Community competition policy of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) opened in Ouagadougou on Monday 23 July 2018.

Organised by the WAEMU Commission with the support of the European Union through the Regional Economic Integration and Trade Support Programme (IERC), funded under the Regional Indicative Programme (RIP) of the 10th European Development Fund (EDF), the meeting’s main objective is to validate the study, which is to lead to the definition of a competition reference framework for the Member States.

The opening ceremony was chaired by Mr Sami OUATTARA, Technical Adviser to the Minister of Trade, Industry and Handicrafts of Burkina Faso, representing Minister Harouna KABORÉ. Also present was Mr Cléophas HOUNGBEDJI, Director of Trade at the WAEMU Commission, representing Commissioner Ibrahima DIÉMÉ, in charge of the Department of Regional Market and Cooperation (DMRC).

Opening his remarks, Mr OUATTARA welcomed the delegations to Burkina Faso before recalling “the determination of the WAEMU Commission to work towards the effective application of competition policy within the Community area.”

For his part, Mr Cléophas HOUNGBEDJI, speaking on behalf of Commissioner DIÉMÉ and President BOUREIMA, praised the European Union’s continued support for the WAEMU Commission. “The adoption of the document on the policy reference framework should allow closer monitoring of the practices of companies and States in markets and across the various value chains, contributing to stronger growth in the region’s economy,” he stressed.

This meeting will be followed immediately by a second workshop, to be held in Ouagadougou from 26 to 28 July 2018, to validate the study on the state of competition in the Union from 2000 to 2017.