Dr Willard Mwemba flies COMESA Competition Commission flag at CARICOM IP–Competition Workshop in Trinidad and Tobago

July 1, 2025 in Business, Trade & Industry by Editor

The COMESA Competition Commission (CCC) is taking part in the Sub-regional workshop on Intellectual Property (IP) and Competition Policy for #Caribbean Competition Agencies, in Trinidad and Tobago, focused on the critical nexus between intellectual property (IP) and competition law.

Organized jointly by the CARICOM Competition Commission, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the Trinidad & Tobago Fair Trading Commission (TTFTC), and the Trinidad & Tobago Intellectual Property Office (TTIPO), the two-day event—running June 30 to July 1—comes under a broader collaboration framework established with CARICOM following an MOU signed on 1 December 2022. CCC is represented by chief executive Dr. Willard Mwemba

The Caribbean Community -CARICOM, is an intergovernmental organisation that is a political and economic union of 15 member states and five associated members throughout the Americas, the Caribbean and Atlantic Ocean.

Held under the theme “The Intersection between Intellectual Property Rights and Competition Law in the CSME,” the workshop aims to equip regulators with strategies to balance innovation incentives protected by IP rights with competition safeguards that prevent market dominance and abuse. For COMESA’s delegates, the event provides a valuable opportunity to exchange best practices and explore policy synergies across two critical spheres of economic governance.

“The collaboration reflects our shared ambition to strengthen competition and consumer protection frameworks across both regions,” CCC said in a post on X, referencing the December 2022 MOU that set the ground for collaboration between CCC and CARICOM, in shaping competition and consumer protection law and policy.

This engagement comes as CARICOM and COMESA regulators increasingly work to harmonize policy approaches amid growing regional integration. African nations under the COMESA bloc, which includes 21 member states, are now stepping up efforts to align IP law with competition enforcement as the African Continental Free Trade Area AfCFTA, gains traction.

WIPO’s involvement underscores the importance of integrating IP considerations into broader trade policy discussions. The workshop is hosted within WIPO’s Port of Spain event series—which runs through tomorrow—bringing in IP and competition regulators from across the Caribbean.

For the CCC, the workshop marks another step toward building institutional capacity, forging trans-regional alliances, and preparing for future enforcement challenges in the intersection of IP rights and competition policy.