ASEAN-USAID Inclusive Growth in ASEAN through Innovation, Trade, and E-Commerce (ASEAN-USAID IGNITE)

Nathan Associates, Inc. is part of Cadmus. Original publication date: February 19, 2019.

Nathan is implementing the ASEAN-USAID Inclusive Growth in ASEAN through Innovation, Trade, and E-Commerce (ASEAN-USAID IGNITE, or IGNITE), a five and a half-year program designed to promote a well-integrated and inclusive ASEAN Economic Community by strengthening the enabling environment for cross-border trade to benefit consumers and workers in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

IGNITE builds upon achievements of the US-ASEAN Connectivity through Trade and Investment (US-ACTI) project and provides technical assistance across three work streams:

• Trade facilitation
• The digital economy
• Science, Technology, and Innovation

Through its support to the ASEAN Secretariat, ASEAN-USAID IGNITE aims to achieve the following objectives:

Objective 1: Harmonized, transparent, internationally-accepted standards, rules, and procedures known to facilitate the cross-border movement of goods and services expanded while reducing non-tariff barriers to trade.

Objective 2: Improved environment for increasing the availability within and among ASEAN Member States of relevant, affordable, and secure digitally-enabled services that reflect international standards and practices and facilitate e-commerce, especially for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).

Objective 3: Enabling environment strengthened that provides incentives for using science, technology, and innovation to drive open and inclusive economic growth.

In all of its work, the program seeks to promote a more inclusive environment for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and strengthen conditions for women’s economic empowerment, including through the promotion of gender equality and women’s participation in trade.

About ASEAN-USAID IGNITE

ASEAN-USAID IGNITE is designed to promote a well-integrated and inclusive ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) by strengthening the enabling environment for cross-border trade to benefit consumers and workers in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the United States. The project is organized around three workstreams—(i) Trade Facilitation; (ii) the Digital Economy; and (iii) Science, Technology, and Innovation—providing technical assistance to relevant counterparts in ASEAN to implement policies of mutual interest to ASEAN and the U.S.