Phnom Penh: On 11-12 December 2023, the Consumer Protection Competition and Fraud Repression Directorate-General (CCF) of the Ministry of Commerce in collaboration with Trade Competition Commission of Thailand (TCCT) and the ASEAN Secretariat, co-hosted the Merger Information Sharing Portal (MISP) Brainstorming Meeting with the support of GIZ. The Brainstorming Meeting is presided over by H.E. PHAN Oun, Delegate of the Royal Government of Cambodia in charge as Director General of CCF Directorate-General and Head of the Cambodia Competition Commission (CCC) Secretariat as the representative of Her Excellency CHAM Nimul, Minister of Commerce and Chairperson of the Cambodia Competition Commission (CCC) and Mr. Frank Tibitanzl, Project Director of COMPETE Project. The meeting was attended by the Excellency Independent Members of CCC, Representatives of ASEAN Secretariat, Consultants, and Expert Officials of the ASEAN Competition Authority with a total of 35 participants. 

At the outset, H.E. Phan Oun shared an insightful remark that the MISP will promote cooperation among agencies by facilitating the exchange of merger-related information. The meeting serves as a platform to discuss MISP’s features and scope to make it an effective information sharing tool for ASEAN Competition Authorities and promote closer cooperation and enabling coordination, particularly on cross-border merger cases. 

It is worth noting that the establishment of MISP is a Key Deliverable of AEGC for 2023 aligning with the ASEAN Competition Action Plan (ACAP) 2025 (Deliverable 3.1.2) allowing competition agencies to inform each other about merger cases for the common interest of the ASEAN region. In this regard, the promotion of cross-border merger cooperation is vital to enhance the effectiveness in the anti-competitive assessment to optimize the effective remedies, save resources, reduce the risk of merger parties providing different narratives, and enhance cooperation and coordination in merger cases investigation amongst competition agencies.