The Global Policy Dialogue, organized by UNCTAD and the United Nations Regional Economic Commissions for Latin America and the Caribbean (UNECLAC), for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), for Western Asia (UNESCWA) will bring together representatives and officials of government MSME bodies, as well as competition agency representatives from across the world to discuss how competition policy could support micro, small and medium-sized enterprises post COVID-19.

UNCTAD, as part of its COVID-19 response project funded by the UN Development Account, has carried out since 2020 several activities with the five UN Regional Economic Commissions (UNECLAC, UNESCAP, UNECA, UNECE, UNESCWA), including the following:

• A global report on the interlinkage between competition and MSME policies (Phase I)
• Three national studies on the impact of COVID-19 on specific SME sectors in Brazil, Thailand and South Africa (Phase 2)
• Five regional webinars on how recommendations from the global report and the three national studies can support the recovery of MSMEs (Phase 2)

The Global Policy Dialogue, organized as part of Phase 3, will be dedicated to the following interlinked topics and divided in three sessions: 

• 1 December: The impact of competition policy in the digitalization of MSMEs in the wake of COVID-19
• 2 December: Access to finance, government support in times of COVID-19
• 3 December: Inter-agency coordination between MSME agencies and competition authorities