CTPL and the Agreement Establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA)
CTPL implemented the Canadian component of a four-year GAC-sponsored project to support Phase 1 of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) negotiation process and the
implementation of the Boosting Intra-Africa Trade (BIAT) agenda. CTPL worked directly with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) through ATPC, the African Trade Policy Centre – https://www.uneca.org/african-trade-policy-centre. CTPL Associate Director Rosemina Nathoo provided trade law advice and direct support to the AfCFTA negotiation process, working with the negotiation and legal teams in Ethiopia and across the Continent. CTPL associates provided additional trade policy and trade law advice and training. CTPL and ATPC collaborated on a special issue of the Canadian Foreign Policy Journal and other joint research on the social (trade and gender; trade and health) and environment and climate change implications of increased continental trade and economic integration.
CTPL and Canada’s trade, development and diplomacy (TDD) agenda
CTPL, through CTPL Executive Director Phil Rourke, provides project directorship to two GAC sponsored trade and development projects being implemented by Cowater International. The
Canadian Trade and Investment Facility for Development – https://c-tif.ca – is a seven-year investment in the trade and development objectives of the governments and their stakeholders of the Asia-Pacific region. The Expert Deployment Mechanism for Trade and Development – https://edm-mde.ca – is a seven-year investment is the trade negotiation and implementation objectives of Canada’s developing country trade agreement partners across the globe.
WTO implementation support to Bangladesh
CTPL worked with national research institutes in Bangladesh to develop further their capacity to undertake and disseminate practical, policy-relevant research in support of the implementation on Bangladesh’s WTO commitments as a result of the Uruguay Round Agreements.
WTO accession implementation support to China
CTPL worked with China’s Ministry of Foreign Trade (MOFCOM) to address the transparency obligations that the country had recently assumed with its accession to the WTO in 2001. We also worked with 14 policy research institutes across the country to develop further their capacity to undertake independent policy-relevant research on the socio-economic dimensions of trade liberalization.
Trace readiness support to Central American governments
CTPL worked for five years with Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras to increase their institutional capacity to implement their national and regional bilateral trade negotiation agendas. We provided both in-house expertise and bought in Canadian governmental and nongovernmental institutional partners to address the specific needs of each country. We provided timely assistance in parallel with their implementation of national and regional negotiating strategies being pursued separately with Canada and the United States.
Building a trade policy community in Russia
CTPL experts and associates collaborated with the Russian trade ministry and universities in Moscow and St. Petersburg for more than 10+ years leading up to Russia’s accession to the WTO in 2011. We worked with the independent CTPL Moscow to build a broadly-based trade policy community of practitioners, academics, private sector representatives and independent trade consultants to support Russia’s trade policy.
Trade training capacity building in Cuba
CTPL worked with the Cuban Trade Ministry (MINCEX) and its training academy (INCOMEX) to develop professional training programs on trade and development issues to be delivered by INCOMEX instructors. CTPL and Cuban trade experts also worked together to develop specific training materials for the programs to address priority trade and development issues for Cuba.
Trade training capacity building with the University of Central Asia
The University of Central Asia (UCA) and Aga Khan Foundation Canada teamed up with CTPL to increase the capacity of this regional institution to provide academic and professional training in trade and development issues across their region. The collaboration focused on academic support to UCA’s undergraduate international economics program and train-the-trainers program to integrate a regionally-focused Certificate in Trade and Development into UCA’s executive training program. http://www.ucentralasia.org/