TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE TO DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Communication from Canada

The following communication, received on 23 October 2024, is being circulated at the request of the Delegation of Canada.

_______________

1.  Canada would like to provide an update regarding the provision of technical assistance from January to December 2023[1]. Technical assistance has been provided to developing and least developed countries in accordance with Article 9 of the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures. The assistance was primarily aimed at facilitating the development and implementation of sanitary and phytosanitary measures based on sound science. The attached table reflects Canadian technical assistance to developing and least developed countries in 2023. While every effort has been made to ensure that information contained in the table presents all relevant technical assistance projects, it may not constitute a complete compilation of technical assistance delivered given the number of Canadian government departments and agencies and the variety of delivery programs involved.

2.  The monetary value of the technical assistance committed amounted to approximately CDN 4.3 million between January and December 2023. It should be noted that, in many cases, the organizations providing the assistance also made additional in-kind contributions to projects.

3.  Assistance was provided to 33 countries - in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe, Central Asia and the Asia-Pacific region. Assistance was directed to both individual countries, groups of countries, and to international organizations.

4.  Canada's assistance addressed three of the four broad categories listed in _G/SPS/GEN/206: information; training; and "soft" infrastructure development (but not "hard" infrastructure development). Assistance from Canada covered most of the "typical areas of competence" listed under the headings of food safety, animal health and plant protection, in the Annex of _G/SPS/GEN/206.

5.  In all, 47 projects are listed for the period January to December 2023. Some of the projects listed are multi-year projects; however, projects are only reported once and generally in the year in which the project is initiated unless subsequent funded project extensions occur, or the amount is reported on an annual basis due to the progress of utilizing funding.