Canada-Americas Trade-related Technical Assistance Program (CATRTA)

Results achieved as of March 2016 include: over 8 000 people representing both governments and the private sector have participated in workshops training activities and other cooperation activities. Fifty-four subprojects have been undertaken in the areas of environment labour trade promotion trade facilitation sanitary and phytosanitary measures (measures to protect humans animals and plants from diseases pests or contaminants) and technical barriers to trade. Results of these subprojects include: (1) more than 2 000 private sector organizations have increased awareness of opportunities and technical requirements for trading with Canada; (2) more than 880 government officials participated in awareness raising events regarding regulatory changes in the context of their countries’ free trade agreement with Canada; (3) the project helped Colombia benefit from its free trade agreement (FTA) with Canada by bringing eight different government departments together to discuss implementation issues regarding its FTA with Canada; (4) associations of small organic quinoa and mango producers in Peru received assistance to improve their export competitiveness and their capacity to access external markets which has resulted in exports to Canada valued at over $800 000 since 2011; (5) exporters in Peru’s food and garment sectors were educated on Canadian export market opportunities resulting in 10 Peruvian exporters receiving orders that demonstrated their established commercial relationships with Canadian buyers and led to new or expanded export sales of more than $900 000; and (6) capacity building training was provided to the Colombian trade support institution PROCOLOMBIA which was then able to assist Canadian trade experts to provide training to Colombian exporters in various requirements for trading with Canada. PROCOLOMBIA then identified export-ready business and helped them participate in a trade mission to Canada resulting in export sales to Canada of clo