Brunei invited to KL conference on consumer issues
By Rosli Abidin Yahya 

Various individuals in the country are now making plans to go to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia tomorrow (Feb 25) to attend a conference entitled "Asian Conference on Consumer Protection, Competition Policy and Law", to be held at the Equatorial Hotel from February 26-28. The conference is organised by the Consumers International Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (CI ROAP), and co-organised as well as funded by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

Representatives of consumer organisations, consumer protection agencies, competition and regulation authorities, and academics from the Asia Pacific are expected to attend the conference, which is said to be very important especially in view of the discussion to be held at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) meeting.

Dr S Sothi Rachagan, CI ROAP Regional Director based in Kuala Lumpur said in a statement that the conference offers participants an opportunity to review consumer protection and competition policy and law issues in the region and discuss strategies for networking and co-operation.

"The conference aims to assess the state of consumer protection in Asia with special reference to the UN Guidelines for Consumer Protection and examine issues that are at the heart of the contemporary consumer agenda.

"It also aims to assess the state of competition policy and law in Asia and assess the need for a multilateral framework on competition and the state of preparedness of governments in Asia to address the issue," he said.

Dr Sothi invited all agencies and organisations actively involved in consumer protection issues to participate in the regional conference.

For information on the conference programme and cost, please visit www.ciroap_org/apcl.

Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin