ARMENIAN FINANCE MINISTRY RECEIVES 209 PROPOSALS SEEKING FUNDS FROM
MILLENNIUM CHALLENGES ACCOUNT

ArmenPress
Sept 9 2004

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 9, ARMENPRESS: Armenian finance and economy
ministry has received some 209 proposals for presentation to the
Millennium Challenge Account (MCA), a new US government assistance
scheme representing a fresh approach to helping low-income countries
overcome economic backwardness. According to Armen Hayrapetian,
chief of the ministry’s macroeconomic department, the overall cost
of all presented proposals amount to $2 billion.

Thirteen of these proposals, costing $430.3 million seek assistance
for reconstruction of water reservoirs, another 36, worth $372.4
million refer to road-building and other infrastructures, 11 proposals
worth $367.4 million seek funds for restoration of irrigation systems
and another 11, worth $209.9 million seek assistance for industry
development.

Proposals seeking funds for agriculture are worth $184 million and
proposals for improvement of water supplies and modernization of
sewage systems cost $87.1 million. Also $86.8 million are asked for
health system improvement, $50.6 million for education and $41.4
million for social security sector. Some other proposals refer to
housing problems, nature protection, high technology and other areas.

Department chief said a meeting of the Board of Trustees, to be
called soon, is expected to discuss the priority directions, which
then will be sent to the Millennium Challenges Account before the
end of September.

According to Paul Applegarth, a veteran of the World Bank and
Wall Street, who runs the government agency that administers the
Millennium Challenge Account, the successful reform in poor countries
will attract not only the fund’s money but also foreign investors,
which he describes as the key to long-term prosperity.

Of 70 countries that meet administration eligibility requirements
based on need, 16 made the cut for receiving aid: Armenia, Benin,
Bolivia, Cape Verde, Georgia, Ghana, Honduras, Lesotho, Madagascar,
Mali, Mongolia, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Senegal, Sri Lanka and the
Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu. They will get to share in the $1
billion Congress has appropriated for the first year, assuming that
Washington approves the projects they design. If Congress goes along,
Millennium Challenge Account funding will rise from the current
$1 billion for this year to $2.5 billion in 2005 and then go to $5
billion annually by 2006.

The overall cost of Armenian proposals for three years will make some
$700-800 million. Other problems, faced by the government of Armenia,
will be resolved, as prime minister Andranik Margarian said, within
the frameworks of other programs. The MCA assistance is supplemented
to the traditional assistance vehicle, the US Agency for International
Development (USAID) that has released $94 million aide to Armenia
for 2004.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress