While initially the regional approach gave the United States the flexibility to respond quickly to varying needs across countries in a rapidly transforming environment, the program has matured. Nevertheless, some activities are appropriately funded regionally because several countries are benefited. Regional funds are requested to support special economic restructuring needs across the region.
More recent initiatives emphasize commercial law and anti-corruption concerns.
Funds will also be used for workshops to share lessons learned among countries in topics such as bank supervision, accounting reform and privatization. The CAR and West NIS Enterprise funds continue to foster private sector development by providing investment capital to small and medium-scale businesses in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and in Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova, respectively. The evaluation reported that the funds provided venture capital in situations where financial markets were still evolving, and where the business environment was so uncertain that foreign investors were reluctant to commit funds to emerging small and medium-sized enterprises. This shift reflects growing evidence that environmental policy initiatives and reforms need to be fully integrated into the economic reform and restructuring process at an early point to ensure that the transition takes full account of long-term environmental costs and benefits in a market environment. The EPP fosters partnerships between U.S. and regional entities aimed at finding market solutions to environmental problems and promoting application of U.S.-based environmental expertise, best practices, goods and services as part of those solutions.