Task Force on Central and Eastern Europe : At the G7 summit in Paris in July 1989, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney agreed that the Canadian government would participate in an international programme to provide economic and technical assistance to support liberalization reforms in Poland and Hungary. On October 4 1989, Cabinet approved an economic assistance package for Poland and Hungary, originally budgeted at $22 million. The Program for Cooperation with Poland and Hungary was formed within the Department of External Affairs to administer this assistance. The Program was led by a Coordinator, who was appointed by and reported to the Secretary of State for External Affairs. Almost immediately, the Department realized that liberalization reforms were occurring across several neighbouring countries. Thus in May 1990, the Program was extended to become the Task Force on Central and Eastern Europe. The Task Force was discontinued in 1994 when its functions were folded into the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).
The Task Force was mandated to advance Canadian interests in Central and Eastern Europe by delivering the economic assistance package through existing program delivery mechanisms. For example, food aid was delivered through interdepartmental collaborations with the Department of Agriculture. Credit insurance was delivered through Export Development Canada. The majority of funds were delivered through the Department of External Affairs' Economic Development Fund (EDF). The Task Force evaluated applications from Canadian and European companies, non-governmental organizations, and government agencies to provide technical assistance to various projects in Central and Eastern Europe. They funded a wide range of projects offering training for management, education, finance, democratic development and human rights, and municipal government and urban affairs. They also funded several development projects relating to agriculture, environment, telecommunications, transportation, and legal and cultural institutions. Finally, the Task Force helped Canadian firms invest in Central and Eastern European markets and to develop links with local business communities. The projects they funded spanned several countries in Central and Eastern Europe: Albania, Belarus, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Ukraine, the former USSR, and Yugoslavia.
