Chairman Khalilillo Turakhujaev delivered a keynote address during the session “Recent Developments and Competition in Digital Markets” at the Ninth United Nations Conference on Competition and Consumer Protection — the premier global forum on competition policy — organized by UNCTAD and currently being held in Geneva, Switzerland.
In his address, the Chairman presented comprehensive information to the international community regarding the sweeping structural reforms being implemented in Uzbekistan under the leadership of President Shavkat Mirziyoyev. He emphasized the dynamic pace of economic development, particularly highlighting major accomplishments in advancing the digital economy and the far-reaching modernization of competition legislation, and notably, Uzbekistan became one of the first countries in Central Asia and the CIS to enact legislation specifically regulating digital platforms.
The Chairman underscored the significant global challenges in the digital economy:
First, the entrenched dominance of global digital platforms and the increasing risks of abuse of market power continue to pose serious threats to competitive markets.
Second, levels of market concentration within digital platform sectors continue to escalate, with insufficient emergence of effective market entry or dynamic competition. For instance, over the past five years, major technology firms have acquired 191 digital platforms, 67 percent of which were subsequently discontinued. This pattern reflects the prevalence of “killer acquisitions”, where incumbent firms acquire nascent competitors to eliminate potential threats — an unfair competition practice that undermines market competition, suppresses innovation, and reduces consumer welfare.
Third, global dominant digital platforms that pose systemic risks to competition, innovation, consumer rights, and data privacy often adhere to antitrust and regulatory requirements in developed jurisdictions. However, in many developing countries — especially across the Global South —actively resist regulatory oversight and in some cases exert undue influence, illustrating a stark application of double standards.
Fourth, in the realm of artificial intelligence, market power is becoming increasingly concentrated in the hands of a few global digital gatekeepers, further entrenching their monopolistic positions and expanding asymmetries in access, innovation, and rule-setting power.
Fifth, insufficient international coordination of enforcement measures particularly in the Global South, remain developing countries disproportionately vulnerable in the face of global digital platforms.
In response to these challenges, the Committee advanced a proposal to develop and implement a Global Initiative on Fair Competition in the Digital Economy, tailored to the specific needs and interests of developing and emerging economies. Key elements of this initiative include:
to develop unified and coherent legal and institutional frameworks to regulate digital platforms. It was stressed that countries of the Global South must participate as equal co-authors — not passive recipients — in shaping international standards for digital platforms regulation.
to conduct joint investigation of cross-border mergers and acquisitions involving digital platforms, with a focus on detecting cartel-like coordination under the guise of structural consolidation.
Accordingly, a formal proposal was submitted to UNCTAD to extend the mandate of its Working Group on Cross-Border Cartel Investigations under the aegis of UNCTAD.
to enhance South–South cooperation in the areas of competition law enforcement, consumer protection, and data governance — facilitating peer learning, regulatory alignment, and institutional capacity-building on digital platforms, algorithms, and AI across developing jurisdictions.
