BRICS Food Policy Value Chains Project Presentation at the UNCTAD

6-10 July in Geneva, Switzerland, at the site of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), a UN meeting was held to review all aspects of the set of mutually agreed equitable principles and rules of control of restrictive business practices. Director of the HSE-Skolkovo Institute for Law and Development Alexey Ivanov presented a research project on BRICS policy in the framework of the 6th session of the Research Partnership Platform (RPP) of the UNCTAD.

The RPP platform was established as a wing of UNCTAD in 2010, a year dedicated to the promotion of research and best practices aimed at boosting competition and protecting the rights of consumers worldwide. The platform brings together scientists and experts worldwide from research centres, universities, competition authorities and representatives of civil society for the implementation of joint research projects and other initiatives, for the exchange of ideas on issues of antitrust regulation and consumer protection, which is particularly relevant for emerging markets and countries with economies in transition.

Alexey Ivanov gave a presentation of an Institute research project addressing the economic and regulatory aspects of food markets in the BRICS countries. The project was under the academic direction of Ioannis Lianos, and was launched this spring. "Food security for developing and transition economies of the BRICS countries is the first priority," says Ivanov. "Then, antitrust regulation of this industry, aimed at protecting the interests of consumers, and this requires a rethinking of the joint efforts of the BRICS countries."