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Millennium Challenge skips Armenia once again

22 December 2014 [17:37] - TODAY.AZ

/AzerNews/

By Mushvig Mehdiyev

"Millennium Challenge" Corporation has once again left out Armenia from its list of beneficiary countries due to Armenian's high corruption rate.

Outgoing U.S. ambassador to Armenia John Heffern said Armenia did not meet the required criteria to benefit from the corporation's programs several years ago.

"Armenia has managed to better the situation over the last two years, but the country is still gripped by bribery," Heffern said at a farewell press-conference in Yerevan, on December 19.

He added that 23 countries have been locked in a tight competition to see green light from the Millennium Challenge Corporation. "Only 2 or 3 countries have received invitations to implement the financial projects. Armenia has not received an invitation this year," Heffern noted.

The U.S. Congress created the Millennium Challenge Corporation in January 2004 as part of efforts to provide a smart U.S. foreign assistance for foreign countries based on good policies.

The U.S. authorities grant financial aid to countries which face challenges of progress in various spheres. The main requirement for benefiting from the MCC is to follow democratic norms and standards in every field.

The Millennium Challenge Corporation inked a treaty with the Armenian government in 2006 to lower rural poverty in the post Soviet country, granting nearly $250 million to the country.

But the corporation has decisively canceled its financial support to Armenia given the bloody events on March 1 following the presidential vote in 2008. The MCC announced that the fatal skirmishes in Yerevan, which claimed 10 lives, proved Armenia's disobedience to democratic standards.

Arthur Sakunts, former member of the Trustees Union of the Millennium Challenge Foundation - Armenia, Head of the Helsinki Assembly's Vanadzor Office, has earlier said in addition to bribery, the major reasons behind the MCC's ignoring Armenia was the government's reluctance to apply international and civilized standards in its foreign policy, political decisions and behavior.

URL: http://www.today.az/news/regions/138051.html

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