Summary
This report highlights results achieved by Australia’s Multilateral Aid for Trade Program Fund (the Fund) between January 2023 and December 2024. During this period, the Fund supported 16 multi-year programs, reaching 29 developing and least developed countries (LDCs). It helped drive global and regional economic integration and resilience by supporting these countries, especially our Indo–Pacific partners, to participate in and benefit from the global, rules-based trading system — with the World Trade Organization (WTO) at its core.
The report demonstrates that promoting trade as an engine for growth and poverty reduction can help create jobs, expand market access for vulnerable communities, and deliver measurable gains in gender equality and workplace safety. It highlights the important role of partnerships, including with multilateral and regional institutions, in strengthening trade capacity, reducing barriers, and embedding economic resilience. The report also illustrates how the Fund advanced cross-cutting priorities, such as digitisation, climate resilience, sustainability, gender equality, disability equity, and locally led development to contribute directly to Sustainable Development Goals on poverty reduction, decent work, gender equality, innovation, reduced inequalities, and climate action.