As part of a project proposal drafted by CLDP, Georgetown University TradeLab students collected information on non-tariff barriers to trade between Afghanistan and regional countries. The students and attorneys at CLDP gathered this information by circulating a comprehensive two-part survey in both Dari and English to hundreds of companies engaged in trade in the region. Local Afghan economic specialists from USAID’s Office of Economic Growth and Office of Agriculture, as well as the State Department Economic Section in Kabul, worked closely with CLDP and the Georgetown students to ensure information is collected across several sectors from as many companies as possible. This information was used to draft a report on the most prevalent non-tariff barriers facing companies trading with Afghanistan. This report is a useful tool to share with the Afghan government to develop programming that supports private-sector-led economic growth in Afghanistan. 

CLDP Attorney Michael Cofield participated in the U.S.-Central Asia Trade and Investment Framework Agreement annual meetings on October 21-22, 2019 in Washington, DC. On Monday, October 21, CLDP briefed the TIFA-level Working Groups on the work and results of the CLDP-facilitated regional Expert Level Working Groups on customs issues, standards, sanitary/phytosanitary measures, intellectual property rights, and women’s economic empowerment. 

On September 10-11, 2019, in Tbilisi, Georgia, CLDP led a sub-regional workshop highlighting best practices in developing laws to restrict lead in paint. The workshop brought together officials from the CLDP-facilitated Central Asia Expert Level Working Group on Standards with their counterparts in Central Asian and Georgian Ministries of Health and Ministries of the Environment, as well as with advisors from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), the World Health Organization (WHO), American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative (ABA-ROLI), and non-governmental organizations (NGOS) from Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Ukraine. 

On May 13-15, 2019, in Tbilisi, Georgia, CLDP facilitated the eighth meeting of the Expert Level Working Group on Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Measures for officials from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan. The group benefited from additional participation by officials from Ukraine and Georgia.