Overview
Competition policies remain fundamental to both advanced and developing economies, supporting market efficiency, innovation and inclusive economic growth. In recent years, rapid digital transformation has significantly reshaped market structures, business models and competitive dynamics, raising new questions related to fairness, equality of opportunity and market access. Like other regions, Arab countries are increasingly engaging with the implications of the digital economy for competition policy, as digital platforms, data-driven activities and technology-enabled services play a growing role across economic sectors.
The expansion of digital markets offers important opportunities for innovation, productivity gains and consumer welfare. At the same time, it presents policy challenges related to market concentration, access to data, interoperability and the risk of unequal competitive conditions. Ensuring that digital markets remain open, contestable and fair has therefore become an increasingly important consideration for competition policy frameworks in the Arab region, particularly given differing levels of digital readiness and institutional capacity across countries.
Against this backdrop, there is a growing need to reflect on how competition policy can adapt to the digital age, not only to preserve competitive market outcomes, but also to promote fairness, equality and consumer trust in digital environments. Addressing these issues calls for policy dialogue, knowledge-sharing and enhanced regional cooperation to exchange experiences and explore approaches suited to the specific characteristics of digital markets in the Arab region.
In this context, the seventh Arab Competition Forum will be organized by its three founding partners, namely the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), United Nations Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), in addition to the COMESA Competition and Consumer Commission (CCCC). It will be held in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, on 28 and 29 October 2026, in partnership with the Competition Department under the Ministry of Economy and Tourism of the United Arab Emirates.
The Forum will examine the implications of digital transformation for competition policy in the Arab region, and explore how competition frameworks can promote fairness, equality of opportunity and well-functioning markets in the digital economy. It will address emerging challenges, policy considerations and best practices related to digital markets, while fostering knowledge-sharing, cooperation and peer learning at the national, regional and international levels.
The seventh Arab Competition Forum, on the theme "Competition policy in the digital age: maintaining fairness and equality in the market", aims to undertake the following:
- Promote fair, inclusive and sustainable economic growth by strengthening the application of competition policy in digital and data-driven markets, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals.
- Strengthen regional and international cooperation among competition authorities to address cross-border challenges arising from digital platforms, data concentration and technology-driven market power.
- Enhance digital competition policy and enforcement tools, including the use of data, algorithms and technological solutions, to better detect exclusionary conduct, market foreclosure and unfair competitive practices in digital markets.
- Facilitate the exchange of best practices and policy experiences among ESCWA member States on ensuring fair access, interoperability, innovation and consumer welfare in the digital economy, while maintaining competitive neutrality and equality of opportunity.
Plenary and Thematic Sessions
Day 1 | 28 October 2026
Session I. Regulating digital platforms for fairness and competition: the case of food delivery markets
Date and time (UAE Time – UTC+4)
Wednesday, 28 October 2026, 12–1.30 p.m.
Session coordinator: United Arab Emirates
Format: Open session/Hybrid
Synopsis:
Digital food delivery platforms have rapidly transformed consumer behaviour, restaurant business models and last-mile logistics across the Arab region. In many markets, a small number of platforms now act as critical gateways between restaurants, consumers, couriers and advertisers. Their control over data, algorithms, pricing tools, visibility rankings and access conditions has created structural dependencies that traditional ex-post competition enforcement may struggle to address in a timely and effective manner.
This session will explore the case for targeted ex-ante regulatory interventions in digital food delivery markets: rules designed to prevent anti-competitive outcomes before harm materializes. The discussion will focus on how competition authorities and policymakers can design proportionate and innovation-friendly obligations that promote fairness, transparency and contestability, while preserving efficiency gains and consumer benefits.
The session will cover the following:
- National and regional experiences on regulatory obligations that can enhance transparency, fairness and contestability in food delivery markets, while preserving innovation and consumer benefits.
- The economic and structural features of food delivery platforms that may justify ex-ante intervention.
- Design options for proportionate platform obligations, including transparency, non-discrimination and fair access rules.
- The interaction between ex-ante regulation and traditional competition law enforcement.
Moderator
Mohammed Sultan Janahi, Director of Competition, Ministry of Economy and Tourism, United Arab Emirates
Speakers
Dubai Corporation for Consumer Protection and Fair Trade
Kuwait Competition Protection Agency
European Commission Directorate-General for Competition
Competition authorities from BRICS/CADE
Session II. Building coherent digital competition policy through regional cooperation
Date and time (UAE Time – UTC+4)
Wednesday, 28 October 2026, 2.30–4 p.m.
Session coordinator: ESCWA
Format: Hybrid
Synopsis:
The session will examine how regional cooperation can support coherent and effective digital competition policy across the Arab region. Participants will discuss recent regulatory developments, including assessments for digital-market provisions in competition laws, and explore how coordination, technical cooperation and knowledge-sharing can help address cross-border challenges in digital markets. The session will also consider practical modalities for aligning national approaches, while respecting differences in legal, institutional and developmental contexts.
The session will cover the following:
- Regulatory challenges and developments in the Arab region, including updates to the Arab Business Legislative Framework based on new indicators assessing digital-market provisions in competition laws.
- Information exchange, peer learning and coordinated approaches to digital market issues, including the use of regional and international networks.
- Enhancing policy coherence across countries with different legal, institutional and developmental contexts.
- Practical next steps for sustained regional cooperation, technical assistance, and structured knowledge-sharing on digital competition policy.
Moderator
ESCWA
Speakers
Name, title, organization, country
Day 2 | 29 October 2026
Session III. Merger control in the digital sector
Date and time (UAE Time – UTC+4)
Thursday, 29 October 2026, 9–10.30 a.m.
Session coordinator: OECD
Format: Hybrid
Synopsis:
Mergers in digital markets have been much discussed in recent years, following growing concerns around the acquisition strategies of major tech platforms. In parallel to the well-known debate on killer acquisitions and notification thresholds, call in powers or digital sovereignty, new questions have started to emerge on the suitability of existing theories of harm for an effective assessment of mergers in digital markets. Specific features of digital mergers, such as the prominent role of platform ecosystems relying on strong network effects, high quality algorithms, economies of scale and data-driven economies of scope, may bring into question the ability of traditional theories of harm to reflect the real competitive harm that may result from a merger.
The session will cover the following:
- Extent to which merger policy in digital markets differs from merger policy in traditional markets.
- Theories of harm currently used in the analysis of digital mergers and the challenges of traditional theories of harm when applied in digital markets.
- Potential need for theories of harm that could better enable competition authorities to meet the standard of proof when assessing anticompetitive mergers.
- Recent international and regional experiences to adapt merger control, reflecting the specific features of digital markets.
Moderator
Name, title, organization, country
Speakers
Name, title, organization, country
Session IV. Institutional coordination between competition and consumer protection in the digital era
Date and time (UAE Time – UTC+4)
Thursday, 29 October 2026, 11 a.m.–12.30 p.m.
Session coordinator: UNCTAD
Format: Hybrid
Synopsis:
The session will examine how coordination between competition and consumer protection frameworks can enhance effective market functioning and consumer welfare, and why such coordination is particularly critical in digital contexts where competition and consumer protection issues increasingly intersect. It will explore how closer cooperation, institutional design and coordinated enforcement can help address cross-cutting challenges arising from digitalization, including platform markets, data-driven business models and algorithmic practices.
The session will cover the following:
- Rationale for strengthened coordination between competition and consumer protection authorities in digital markets.
- Institutional design and governance models for managing overlapping mandates, including single- and dual-mandate authorities.
- Role of institutional cooperation in addressing market concentration, data use, consumer trust, transparency and unfair digital practices.
- Policy considerations for enhancing institutional synergies to support fair, transparent and well-functioning digital markets, drawing on regional and international experiences.
Moderator
Name, title, organization, country
Speakers
Tunisia / Morocco
Brazil
Georgia / Poland
Korea Fair Trade Commission / Kenya
