Pan Armenian News

Explanations of the RA Ministry of Finance and Economy concerning the
`Millennium Challenges’ Program

12.08.2005 05:51

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The August 5 Publication of the PanARMENIAN.Net with a
link to the Regnum Information Agency – `D. Avetisyan: We expect that
Armenia receives a WB Credit of $20 Million by the end of the year’ –
contained some mistakes as for the content and the negotiation process of
the `Millennium Challenges’ program. The RA Ministry of Finance and Economy
has provided explanations to the correspondents of the PanARMENAN.Net. The
draft program handed by the Armenian Government to the American Corporation
of `Millennium Challenges’ includes 2 components – investments into the
infrastructure of irrigation and the infrastructure of community roads. The
project does not cover the spheres of social welfare, public health and
education. According to the Armenian proposal of `Millennium Challenges’,
the total investment volume is equal to $175mln., not $60mln. as stated
before. $118mln. of overall $175mln. is intended for the irrigation
infrastructure and the other $57mln. – for the community roads. As for the
negotiation process, it is currently on the stage of joint practical
discussions between the MCA team and the Transaction team of the MC
Corporation. The discussions will cover the realistic possibility of poverty
reduction through economic growth during the implementation of the two
components of the MCA Program. The Compact negotiation phase will follow
current discussions, becoming a next step towards the realization of the
Program. The MCA team informs that the RA population will receive periodical
updates on further developments.