This conference is particularly timely in light of the adoption by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on August 9, 2023 of the Law of Ukraine "On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine on Improving the Activities of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine". This law is intended to strengthen the institutional capacity of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine and improve the effectiveness of state policy in the field of economic competition protection, which is one of the commitments undertaken by our country to integrate into the European Union. Expanding the AMCU's powers will create conditions for a greater focus on analytical work in the course of case consideration, strengthen the law enforcement function and contribute to the effectiveness of investigations.

Pavlo Kyrylenko, Chairman of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine, started the high-level discussion with his report on "Formation and Implementation of Competition Policy in Wartime and Post-War Period". The speaker analyzed the activities and results of the AMCU's work, drawing attention to the fact that one of the most common violations of competition law under martial law continues to be anticompetitive concerted actions of business entities in the form of collusion during tenders and auctions. Mr. Kyrylenko also discussed the issues of compliance of Ukrainian competition law with European requirements and outlined the main directions of its updating.

Professor Russell Pittman, a specialist with many years of experience as the Director of Economic Analysis at the Antitrust Division of the US Department of Justice, who has repeatedly addressed students at SUTE, supported the high level of discussion at the conference. In his speech, Mr. Pittman successfully combined the theoretical and methodological component of the analysis with examples from his own practice at the U.S. Department of Justice, analyzing in detail the intricacies of competition law and the principles of market participants' search for areas for implementing merger transactions. In general, the plenary session featured presentations on applied and educational aspects of competitive culture, problems of state aid, and the development of the competition policy ecosystem.

The speakers also touched upon the economic, legal, moral, ethical and security issues of artificial intelligence and its potential impact on the functioning of industry markets, regulation of competition in digital markets, digital sustainability of education in the national security system in the post-war period, the impact of information and communication platforms on competition, financial and investment architectonics of capital concentration in digital. The conference was attended by scholars and practitioners from Ukraine, Poland, Norway, the United States, Canada, and India.

The conference proceedings will be published in a collection of materials, and the latest solutions, interesting ideas and practical recommendations will be implemented in the educational process to train competitive specialists at SUTE.

Yurii Umantsiv,
Head of the Department of Economics and Competition Policy,
Doctor of Sciences (Economics), Professor