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 Wednesday 2:46 PM MSK


Pompeo willing to help Armenia get U.S. grant to develop school education system

YEREVAN. May 23

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he was willing to facilitate
the resumption of cooperation between Armenia and the U.S. agency
Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC).

"We appreciate your idea of a new MCC compact focused on STEAM
education for Armenia," Pompeo said in reply to a letter from the
Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).

Pompeo's letter came in response to ANCA Chairman Raffi Hamparian's
call upon him, as MCC chairman of the board, "to support expedited
consideration of a new $140 million Science, Technology, Engineering,
Art, and Math (STEAM) grant for Armenia's public schools."

"We hope to see the Armenian government make progress on MCC's
eligibility criteria ('scorecard') this year so that the MCC Board of
Directors may consider Armenia for a compact during the annual
selection process," Pompeo said.

Pompeo also expressed "enthusiasm for Armenia's peaceful,
constitutional political transition."

The grant is expected to be extended within five years.

The MCC started its program in Armenia in October 2006. Its principal
components were the restoration of irrigation systems, the development
of the agricultural sector, and poverty reduction in rural areas. The
program was initially worth $236 million, but its significant
component dealing with the reconstruction of rural motorways was
frozen in August 2008, following the March 1, 2008 events involving
mass unrest and deaths during an opposition rally in protest against
the outcomes of the presidential elections.

The MCC completed its five-year program in Armenia in October 2011,
having invested about $177 in the development of the agricultural
sector and restoration of irrigation systems.

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