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60 Responsibility for Canada’s international relations rests primarily with the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT). The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) is responsible for the administration of ODA. CIDA focuses Canada’s ODA on the alleviation of poverty and the promotion of sustainable development, following a number of priorities: the provision of basic human needs (like primary health care, education, water, sanitation and shelter); full participation of women in society; development of democracy and good governance; promotion of a healthy private business sector; provision of sustainable infrastructure services; and protection of the environment. Canada seeks little direct return for its participation. “Benefit to Canada,” though nominally a factor in designing ODA projects, has been pursued less than vigorously and often with some embarrassment by CIDA officials. Other government departments have not shown such inhibition. In the past decade, these agencies have become involved in international cooperation areas that call for solutions more complex than the traditional donor-recipient model, usually with a spin-off benefit to Canada. There is a need to recognize and coordinate this type of assistance with Canada’s overall ODA effort. THE “NEW” ODA The need for traditional ODA to provide for the basic human needs of the 900 million people in Asia who live in poverty 1 is perhaps greater now than it was at the start of the decade. The Asian economic crisis in Indonesia and Thailand, plus population growth in the Philippines, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, have only exacerbated an already unacceptable situation. In recognition of this, CIDA, along with such organizations as the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank, has adopted poverty reduction as its overarching objective. But the need for “new” ODA is bound to grow too as globalization advances. In Asia Pacific, economic integration has created the biggest demand for regional public goods, a demand that traditional ODA cannot, and was not designed to, meet. The range of projects is extremely diverse. It includes such areas as control of crossborder pollution, common product quality standards, financial market regulation and stabilization, and law enforcement. One of the lesser known aspects of APEC is its work addressing some of these needs through its trade facilitation and its economic and technical cooperation activities — albeit in a haphazard and as yet half-hearted manner. Canada is active in APEC working groups and committees involved in projects aimed at harmonization of customs procedures, financial market regulation, development of fish inspection systems, and aviation and maritime safety. We regularly send experts from the relevant government departments (as well as from the private sector) to these working groups and committees, at the expense of Canadian taxpayers. It may be hard to identify how a specific developing country benefits from Canada’s participation in a certain working group. However, all participating developing countries stand to benefit from the successful provision of a regional public good such as common product standards or cooperation in financial market monitoring. 2 Not only developing countries but all participants in a regional exercise can benefit, which is of course their reason for participating in the first place. That is a problem for traditionalists who are unable to identify the donor or the recipient in these types of projects. In fact, there is no real distinction. Among Asian developing economies there is resistance to the use of
the term “development assistance” for this very reason. As a result, APEC has created an alternative way of describing this sort of activity, by coining the term “economic and technical cooperation” or “Ecotech” in APECspeak. Ecotech is supposed to embody the new characteristics of regional cooperation, namely common interests, pooling of resources and mutual respect. It implies a relationship of equal partners, the opposite of the donorrecipient relationship. There is considerable wishful thinking embodied in the notion of Ecotech, but it nevertheless points to the new and real complexity of international cooperation in an age of highly integrated and interdependent economies. Ottawa’s challenge is to manage this multifaceted approach rationally. First, there must be a better understanding of which government departments are involved in international cooperation activities, why they are doing so, and what relation these activities have to Canada’s overall development assistance effort. Departments apart from CIDA and DFAIT have become involved in overseas activities generally for one of three reasons: obligations growing out of Canada’s membership in an international organization; the direct or indirect promotion of Canadian commercial interests; or a desire to sell public sector expertise in international markets. 61 Canada’s role in APEC has drawn domestic departments like Human Resources Development, Revenue or Transport into international cooperation ventures. Some of these activities are funded through CIDA, while some are not. Projects on behalf of CIDA are, by definition, included as part of Canada’s ODA, but similar projects carried out independently by other departments are not counted. As an example, CIDA has funded a project designed to improve fish inspection and quality control in developing Southeast Asian economies. Inspectors from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (who have since been transferred to the newly formed Food Inspection Agency) have been principal participants. As part of their regular duties, however, these officials are also involved in consultations and technical assistance activities with the same Southeast Asian countries. The former is counted as ODA, the latter is not, even though the activities are very similar in scope. National commercial interest is another reason for departments to turn their attention offshore. This is hardly a new driver, as it has been an implicit, if downplayed, factor in many CIDA projects for years. However, new players like the National Research Council and Environment Canada have moved into the field, promoting demonstration projects involving Canadian technology. Today, Canadian technology is often transferred abroad through SMEs and joint ventures involved in the quasi-assistance projects. The emphasis is on partnerships related to innovation and capacity building, as well as the mutual benefits to overseas partners and Canadian companies, opening the door to followup commercial ties. The drive to sell public sector expertise is, in part, a reaction to Ottawa’s funding cutbacks, and, in part, a recognition by other countries of Canadian expertise. Canada is regarded as a well-regulated, and sometimes over-regulated, country. In areas ranging from broadcast standards to town planning or public health we are acknowledged for our administrative expertise. Growing international standardization in a range of products and services, an outgrowth of globalization, is leading to more opportunities for the Canadian government
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October 2000, we will hold the firs
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OVERVIEW 1 asia in convalescence 7
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Page 11 and 12: GRADE ‘98 Inward Investment C- In
Page 13 and 14: THE CHALLENGE OF GLOBALIZATION Unde
Page 15 and 16: The largest pool of investable Cana
Page 17 and 18: enabled Canada to take a stronger r
Page 19 and 20: emoval. However, most of the change
Page 21 and 22: MAJOR EVENTS 2 a year in review 21
Page 23 and 24: stock markets were climbing. As the
Page 25 and 26: six-fold in Thailand. With the exce
Page 27 and 28: the past played a very small role i
Page 29 and 30: it had allowed in recent years. A m
Page 31 and 32: SECURITY BACKTRACK While economic c
Page 33 and 34: Outbreaks of violence in other part
Page 35 and 36: ECONOMIC RELATIONS 3 looking for a
Page 37 and 38: TODAY’S DELAY IS TOMORROW’S LOS
Page 39 and 40: ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
Page 41 and 42: to achieve operating efficiencies t
Page 43 and 44: Finally, foreign investment by Cana
Page 45 and 46: NORTH AMERICAN INTEGRATION 4 too mu
Page 47 and 48: similar to that with the US with on
Page 49 and 50: British Columbia provides a recent
Page 51 and 52: part of US-assembled goods bound fo
Page 53 and 54: ASIAN EXPERTISE 5 hidden advantage
Page 55 and 56: cautioned that “not every Asian C
Page 57 and 58: usiness skills to enhance Canada-As
Page 59: 6 DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE ODA for a
Page 63 and 64: The report emphasizes the need to
Page 65 and 66: ASIA PACIFIC FOUNDATION OF CANADA 7
Page 67 and 68: CANADIAN EDUCATION CENTRE NETWORK T
Page 69 and 70: NOTES CHAPTER 1 1. Based on markets
Page 71 and 72: NOTES 5. Research by Tamim Bayoumi
Page 73 and 74: REFERENCES —. Statistics Canada.
Page 75 and 76: REFERENCES United Nations Conferenc
Page 77 and 78: STATISTICAL APPENDIX ASIAN MOTHER T
Page 79: STATISTICAL APPENDIX CANADA’S TRA
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