Project profile — Canadian Trade and Investment Facility for Development

• Asia, regional (80.00%)
• Oceania, regional (20.00%)

• Banking And Financial Services: Formal sector financial intermediaries (24030) (20.00%)
• Business And Other Services: Business support services and institutions (25010) (20.00%)
• Industry: Small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) development (32130) (20.00%)
• Trade policy and administrative management:
Trade policy and administrative management (33110) (20.00%)
Trade facilitation (33120) (20.00%)

• Gender equality (significant objective)
• Environmental sustainability (cross-cutting) (significant objective)
• Participatory development and good governance (significant objective)
• Trade development (principal objective)
• Biodiversity (not targeted)
• Climate change mitigation (not targeted)
• Climate Change Adaptation (not targeted)
• Urban issues (not targeted)
• Desertification (not targeted)
• Children's issues (not targeted)
• Youth Issues (not targeted)
• Indigenous Issues (not targeted)
• Disability (not targeted)
• ICT as a tool for development (significant objective)

The Canadian Trade and Investment Facility (CTIF) provides technical assistance to support more inclusive, sustainable and poverty-reducing trade and investment in official development assistance (ODA) eligible Asia-Pacific countries. CTIF technical assistance providers work with national and regional authorities to improve policy-making practices among regional and national institutions, and with public, private and non-governmental stakeholders to increase access to markets and finance by Asia-Pacific-based SMEs, particularly those led by women. CTIF provides technical assistance by external contractors following the approval of technical assistance requests from eligible beneficiaries. These include regional institutions, governments, civil society organisations, and individual firms in ODA-eligible countries in the region.

The expected results for this project include: (1) improved regional organizations’ capabilities to support competitiveness, economic integration, climate-smart and gender, and socially inclusive growth in the Asia-Pacific region; (2) increased the ability of national and local governments to plan, develop, implement and measure policies, legislation and regulations supporting climate-smart and gender/socially inclusive trade and investment; and (3) increased the capacity of civil society organizations and private sector organizations to support their constituencies in business growth, women’s economic empowerment, market access, access to finance, and responsible business conduct.

Results achieved as of August 2021 include: (1) improved regional organizations’ capabilities to support competitiveness, economic integration, climate-smart and gender, and socially inclusive growth in the Asia-Pacific region; (2) increased the ability of national and local governments to plan, develop, implement and measure policies, legislation and regulations supporting climate-smart and gender/socially inclusive trade and investment; and (3) increased the capacity of civil society organizations and private sector organizations to support their constituencies in business growth, women’s economic empowerment, market access, access to finance, and responsible business conduct. The establishment of nineteen technical assistance agreements with beneficiary organizations led to results in Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Fiji, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Kiribati, Afghanistan, Bhutan and Bangladesh, and three ASEAN regional organizations based in Indonesia. Completed 10 technical assistance agreements, and nine are currently ongoing. Due to travel restrictions and community quarantine measures during the COVID-19 pandemic, technical advisory services and capacity-building training are provided online via video conferencing.

• Proactive disclosure