TAF celebrates five years of advancing strategic infrastructure priorities

By Fatima Shamim

In an increasingly competitive and fast-paced global environment, the ability to quickly deliver support to an infrastructure project can determine winners—and establish standards—for decades to come. Take, for example, undersea cables that span the globe, roads and bridges that enable critical connectivity, and 5G networks that shape the technological environment. The impact of new infrastructure often extends far beyond the immediate project.

The Transaction Advisory Fund (TAF), launched in 2019 to advance U.S. Indo-Pacific goals, is the U.S. government’s “rapid response” program managed jointly by the Department of State and USAID to provide financing for technical and legal advisory services to infrastructure projects. In 2023, TAF expanded beyond the Indo-Pacific region to the Western Hemisphere and Africa, demonstrating the U.S. government’s commitment to helping partners in the Global South address their infrastructure priorities. 

Five years in, TAF has successfully unlocked billions in private sector investment in infrastructure in the places that need it most. Since 2019, the United States has provided $21 million in TAF assistance, supporting 20 projects in 15 countries across six sectors that have successfully showcased affirmative U.S. economic engagement in key regions.

Preparing and negotiating complex infrastructure deals is already difficult, and developing countries can face an uphill battle when outmatched by better-resourced counterparts. TAF helps prepare projects by financing best-in-class legal, financial, engineering, and design services to governments. TAF projects include feasibility studies, due diligence assistance, debt sustainability analyses, environmental and social impact analyses, legal support, and assistance in rescheduling existing infrastructure project loans. Crucially, the TAF interagency approval process takes only five days, so TAF can promptly respond to time-sensitive requests. 

TAF can also enhance the bankability of projects and unlock much larger amounts of financing through entities such as the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation or the American Export-Import Bank. 

TAF services are intended to be of limited duration in support of a specific and strategic infrastructure project. The Department’s Office of Development Finance and USAID, in close collaboration with the interagency TAF Steering Committee, set the strategic course and provide robust oversight for TAF. This unique setup harnesses whole-of-government expertise in infrastructure development, private sector engagement, and capacity building while ensuring alignment with overarching foreign policy priorities.

Swift and targeted assistance, like that from TAF, can help advance U.S. foreign policy objectives. For example, TAF-supported efforts to make internet access cheaper, faster, and more reliable for Palau’s population ensured access to information and spurred economic growth in the tiny Pacific island nation. To complement joint U.S.-Australia-Japan financing for the construction of an undersea cable, TAF provided critical project management and legal support to oversee the installation and operationalization of a cable spur. Valued at approximately $30 million, the cable spur will connect Palau to the world’s longest undersea cable.

In another example, the government of Indonesia is undertaking an ambitious project to relocate its capital from Jakarta to Nusantara, a new city being developed in the province of East Kalimantan. The vision for Nusantara is to create a world-class, technologically smart, and sustainable city. TAF provided technical assistance to the government to help develop novel guidelines on smart infrastructure, such as transportation and waste management.

Finally, TAF provided critical engineering support to help the government of Bangladesh assess options for building a lock system to fix the Mongla-Ghasiakhali Canal, a vital artery for the country’s inland waterway transport system, serving as a crucial link between the cities of Dhaka and Mongla. Over time, the canal’s navigability was severely impacted by siltation and reduced water levels, leading to the suspension of the route in 2011. TAF’s support will help enable future traffic and trade.

As the global infrastructure gap grows, significant progress has been made in mobilizing capital for investment in critical development areas, including transportation infrastructure, clean energy, and digital connectivity. TAF is a critical tool that complements existing programs to leverage modest public resources and unlock investment from public and private sources.

TAF has supported transportation infrastructure, secure communications, and critical minerals in the Indo-Pacific, Latin America, and Africa and provided clear demonstrations of how the United States shows up for our partners. Posts in eligible regions may reach out for more information by email.

Fatima Shamim is an intern in the Office of Development Finance. https://statemag.state.gov/2025/02/0225feat04/