Action Pathway
Economic Cooperation
Economies in Asia and the Pacific are dynamic engines of global innovation and growth—but realizing their full potential to deliver prosperity for people will require inclusive and future-ready systems.
Trade, investment, digital links, energy cooperation, and cross-border infrastructure are central to prosperity in Asia and the Pacific, and progress depends on policies, institutions, and partnerships that can keep pace with economic change. Political tensions, uneven regulations, limited public-sector capacity, infrastructure gaps, and competition for investment can slow cooperation and make it harder for businesses, workers, and communities to benefit from regional growth. We help regional bodies, governments, businesses, and experts turn shared economic goals into practical action by generating evidence, supporting policy dialogue, strengthening institutional capacity, and advancing cooperation that improves connectivity, expands opportunity, strengthens supply chains, and helps economies respond to disruption.
APPROACH
We work with regional bodies, governments, businesses, researchers, and policy experts to identify practical barriers to economic cooperation and move workable solutions from discussion to implementation. We support partners through research, technical analysis, policy dialogue, convening, capacity strengthening, and implementation support. Our work includes helping regional institutions coordinate policy-making, supporting governments and businesses on trade and connectivity priorities, and applying evidence to issues such as the digital economy, data privacy and protection, energy cooperation, and cross-border infrastructure. These approaches help partners make better decisions, strengthen institutions, expand economic opportunity, improve connectivity, and build more reliable systems for cooperation across Asia and the Pacific.
Featured Programs
Growing Women-led Food Innovation
To increase food security and economic opportunity, we help women food entrepreneurs in Fiji, Samoa, and Indonesia turn local crops, traditional knowledge, and bio-cultural resources into market-ready food products.
Strengthening ASEAN Cooperation on Regional Security
With security challenges increasing in the region, we helped deepen the ASEAN-Australia relationship and enhance ASEAN’s ability to lead coordinated responses to transnational political and security issues.
Malaysia-Thailand Reform Partnership
Implemented from 2019 to 2022, the Malaysia–Thailand Reform Partnership, funded by Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, supported policy reforms to address the evolving development challenges of advanced middle-income countries. In Malaysia, childcare became a flagship reform to increase women’s workforce participation, delivering substantive policy advances at the federal and state levels. The program strengthened Australia–Malaysia development cooperation and laid the foundation for TAF’s broader care economy programming in Malaysia.