ARMINFO News Agency
September 29, 2006 Friday
ARMENIA AND U.S. FORMALLY INAUGURATE $235 MILLION RURAL DEVELOPMENT
PROGRAM
On September 29, 2006, the five year Millennium Challenge
anti-poverty development program agreed to earlier this year by the
United States and Armenia was officially inaugurated with an exchange
of letters. In a ceremony held at the Ministry of Finance and
Economy, Finance Minister Vardan Khachatryan and Alex Russin of the
Millennium Challenge Corporation exchanged letters which formally
inaugurate the $235 million anti-poverty program.
The Armenian Compact is designed to reduce rural poverty through a
sustainable increase in the economic performance of the agricultural
sector. Armenia plans to achieve this goal through a five-year
program of strategic investments in rural roads, irrigation
infrastructure and technical and financial assistance to improve the
supply of water and to support farmers and agribusinesses. The
Program will directly impact approximately 750,000 people, or an
estimated 75 percent of the rural population, and is expected to
reduce the rural poverty rate and boost annual incomes.
The Compact includes a $67 million project to rehabilitate up to 943
kilometers of rural roads, more than a third of Armenia’s proposed
Lifeline road network. When complete, the Lifeline road network will
ensure that every rural community has road access to markets,
services, and the main road network. Under the Compact, the
Government of Armenia will be required to commit additional resources
for maintenance of the road network. The Compact also includes a $146
million project to increase the productivity of approximately 250,000
farm households (34% of which are headed by women) through improved
water supply, higher yields, higher-value crops, and a more
competitive agricultural sector.
The five-year Millenium Challenge Compact ratified by the Armenian
parliament in May costs $235 mln. First Deputy Minister of Finance
and Economy Pavel Safaryan said Armenia will receive the initial $4.5
million under the Compact in 2007 .
Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), a U.S. government corporation
designed to work with some of the poorest countries in the world, is
based on the principle that aid is most effective when it reinforces
good governance, economic freedom, and investments in people that
promote economic growth and elimination of extreme poverty.