Tuesday, 4 October 2011
Armenian Government Determined To Continue “MCA-Armenia” Program
Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan hosted a reception on successful completion of “Millennium Challenge Account-Armenia” (MCA-Armenia) program.
Welcoming the guests, Tigran Sargsyan said the government highly values the opinion expressed by MCC Executive Director Daniel Yohannes during his stay in our country in May, 2011 who stated that both sides were willing to expand bilateral relations.
According to the head of government, program performance had been discussed at the meeting with Patrick Fine, Vice President for Compact Operations of the Millennium Challenge Corporation.
“New standards and methodologies have been designed under the Program to be looked into by our government, and we shall try to comply with those standards. On behalf of the Armenian government, I express gratitude to the government of the United States for cooperation and support. I am happy and proud of the fact that the Armenia program has been assessed as the best one. It inspires hope that we can come to an agreement over the implementation of a new program.”
Stressing that the key performance indicators bore not only on the goals of the program, but also on the strengthening of democracy in Armenia and creation of an economic groundwork, the Premier said that the Armenian government is resolute to do its best for program extension in the Republic of Armenia.
MCA-Armenia was said to be a vivid evidence of successful U.S.-Armenia cooperation. “The Program concentrated on such important areas as modernization of irrigation infrastructures and transfer of know-how and state-of-the-art technologies to local farmers. The U.S. government allocated USD 177mn for rebuilding and rehabilitation of water-mains and canals, drainage systems, pumping stations and so on. Reliable supply of irrigation water is available to some 427 thousand program beneficiaries from rural areas. The program’s positive impact will make itself felt within the next couple of years.”
In turn, MCC Vice President for Compact Operations Patrick Fine said that by making considerable investments in irrigation infrastructures and agribusinesses, they contributed to poverty reduction in Armenia. “We feel happy as we have had serious achievements all the way through program implementation. This evidences that Armenia is taking steps to provide well-being for its nationals.”
A video film on MCA-Armenia activities was screened during the reception.
