South Caucasus

Canada's Commitment
Results
Regional Profile

Canada's Commitment

Canada has been present in the South Caucasus (Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia) since 1991, lending its support to initiatives aimed at improving governance structures and institutional capacity, strengthening civil society, promoting peace and security, and enhancing respect for human rights and democracy. To date, CIDA has contributed a total of $53 million to the South Caucasus.

Assistance has focused primarily on civil society capacity building, microcredit for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and trade policy capacity development to support entry and membership in the World Trade Organization. Efforts have also been made to improve health information systems through the application of information and communication technology, provide humanitarian assistance, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the Caspian Basin region by attracting foreign investment and technology.

CIDA continues to provide assistance to countries in the South Caucasus, and is working to help strengthen both public- and private-sector governance. Currently, support is being provided to build the policy and decision-making capacity of key agencies and individuals in public administrations in the South Caucasus. Programming is also underway to foster greater understanding among different ethnic groups and to draw attention to the needs and rights of minorities with the aim of contributing to the prevention of potential conflict. In the area of corporate governance, support is being directed toward improving business practices and enabling environments to bolster the ability of SMEs to grow.

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Results

CIDA's programming in the South Caucasus has achieved notable results. For instance, local knowledge, expertise, and capacity to conduct trade policy analysis have grown and continue to be shared through regional networks and to advise governments. CIDA-supported training, news broadcasts, and information exchanges in multiple languages are contributing to the ability of various ethnic groups to communicate issues and understand one another. A number of SMEs also now have a better understanding of market principles and international standards for corporate governance, which they are applying to improve their business management practices, effectiveness, and ability to compete.

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Regional Profile

With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the countries in the South Caucasus gained their independence and embarked on a challenging path of reform to rebuild their economies and address widespread poverty.

While regional growth has been high over the past few years (the average real gross national product in 2003 was 12 percent) and is forecast to grow further (especially in Azerbaijan with the opening of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline), 50 percent of the region's population continues to live below the national poverty line. Within the region, Armenia and Azerbaijan are considered better placed than Georgia to meet the Millennium Development Goals.

Despite attempts to address ongoing country-specific and cross-border conflicts, solutions remain elusive, hampering long-term regional security and stability. Governance structures in some parts of the region have improved, but overall, corruption and weaknesses in the application of the rule of law remain.

Countries in the South Caucasus continue to implement reforms and are striving to meet the many challenges that they face. Through its assistance, CIDA is working to support the priorities that governments in the region have established in their poverty reduction strategy papers. To consult these documents, visit:

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PDF Format

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Armenia (PDF 1.3 MB, 139 pages)
Azerbaijan (PDF 947 KB, 191 pages)
Georgia (PDF 935 KB, 107 pages)