World competition day, 2020 set to ‘Enhancing Economic efficiency of SMEs’

ISLAMABAD: The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) on Friday decided to mark the World competition day 2020, with the theme, “Enhancing Economic Efficiency of SMEs” for the strengthening of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the country.

The CCP would mark the World competition day on 5th December with the resolve to play an active role under its mandate to strengthen and support the SMEs through policy and advocacy initiatives, said press release issued by CCP here.

On December 5th 2010, the International Network of Civil Society Organization on Competition (INCSOC) announced and proposed the first World Competition Day.

Subsequently, each year, the world’s competition community celebrates 5th December as the World Competition Day by holding events, issuing statements and taking other outreach measures with the intention to support consumers and promote fair play in the market.

This year’s international theme is “Competition Policy and Access to Healthcare.”

The Competition Law of Pakistan is a pro-business, pro-growth statute and the Commission believes in stimulating economic performance and creating a level playing field by eradicating market distortions and eliminating entry barriers.

Competition encourages businesses to compete to continuously look for better ways to satisfy their consumer base with improved quality, durability, service, and price which come to fruition in innovation.

This in result enhances the economic efficiency of businesses and particularly enables the small businesses to compete and grow.

The SME sector is the backbone of Pakistan’s economy and there is still a lot of potential for growth and innovation.

The CCP realizes that the SME sector deserves a special focus in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic and its sustenance will depend on the support it gets from the relevant quarters.

The CCP encourages all efforts geared at ensuring a sustainable growth of SMEs and will endeavour to contribute under its mandate through issuing policy guidelines and taking advocacy initiatives for their benefit.

The CCP is working to coordinate with jurisdictions where competition agencies have contributed, directly or indirectly, towards enhancing economic efficiency of SMEs, both in COVID-19 situation and before.