Canada Announces Funding of IDR 51 Billion for ASEAN

ILLUSTRATION UNSPLASH/sebastiaan stam

JAKARTA - Canada has strengthened its strategic partnership with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) by announcing funding of 4.2 million Canadian dollars (Rp51 billion) through the ASEAN-Canada Action Plan Trust Fund.

Canadian Secretary of State for International Development Randeep Sarai said the funding was taken from a total of 11.7 million Canadian dollars (Rp141.6 billion) donated by Canada through the ASEAN-Canada Action Plan Trust Fund.

"Canada will provide $4.2 million to support several new initiatives that will help strengthen ASEAN agricultural standards and food security, promote responsible AI governance, contribute to research on ASEAN's digital economy, including cyber and online crime," Sarai said, quoted by ANTARA, Tuesday, January 13.

The funding of 385 thousand Canadian dollars (Rp4.6 billion) will be used to support the development of ASEAN Socio-Cultural Development Outlook Volume 2 for one year.

The funding will support research conducted by The Asia Foundation which will focus on the megatrends of digitization, including cybercrime, online fraud, misinformation, and the digital divide.

Canada will channel 1.8 million Canadian dollars (Rp21.8 billion) over two years to support "Canada & ASEAN AI Connect: Partnership with Canada on responsible AI governance".

The initiative aims to increase regional and ASEAN-Canada collaboration on issues of responsible AI governance, in line with international frameworks, and supported by technical assistance.

Then, funding of 659 thousand Canadian dollars (Rp7.9 billion) will be channeled to the Canada-ASEAN Exchange for a safer food system and agricultural trade opportunities for one year.

The initiative aims to strengthen ASEAN's regional capacity in implementing harmonized science-based food and agricultural safety standards through Canadian-ASEAN technical exchanges.

Finally, funding of 1.4 million Canadian dollars (Rp16.9 billion) will be channeled for a study on promoting decarbonization for ASEAN competitiveness: the implementation of carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCU/S) for industrial centers in ASEAN for one year.

The initiative aims to support research led by the ASEAN Energy Center to accelerate the application of CCU/S technology across ASEAN industrial centers.