ARMENIA RECEIVES FIRST DISBURSEMENT FROM MILLENNIUM CHALLENGES CORPORATION
Armenpress
Dec 12 2006
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 12, ARMENPRESS: A senior U.S. diplomat praised today
Armenian authorities for doing a great deal of good job to meet the
requirements for the first disbursement of $1.4 million from the
U.S. government-funded Millennium Challenges Corporation (MCC).
Anthony Godfrey, charge d’affaires of the U.S. embassy in Yerevan, told
a news conference today that MCC has already transferred to Armenia
$882,000 and will transfer another $507,000 later this month. Under
the Compact signed by the MCC and Armenia, the latter will receive
$236 million in extra U.S. aid to develop its rural areas.
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.
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.