KATHMANDU: Deputy Vice President for Europe, Asia, Pacific & Latin America for the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Jonathan Brooks concluded his visit on Tuesday.
He had arrived in Kathmandu as part of on-going consultations in support of the U.S. partnership with the government of Nepal and the $500 million MCC Compact.
During his visit, Deputy Vice President Brooks met separately with the MCA-Nepal Board of Directors, Prime Minister KP Oli and other high-level government officials involved in the compact.
He noted the government’s statements of commitment to moving forward with the compact expeditiously, the US Embassy in Kathmandu said in a press statement.
Created in 2004, MCC provides time-limited grant assistance to developing countries that meet rigorous standards. In September 2017, the United States and the government of Nepal signed the MCC Nepal Compact, the first in South Asia.
The compact is designed to reduce poverty, spur economic growth and private sector investment, open new markets to grow the economy, and enhance regional cooperation to create sustainable development to benefit the people of Nepal.
The MCC project is focused purely on economic development by helping to build power lines and improve roads and there is no military component to the MCC. There is no mention of the Indo-Pacific Strategy (IPS) in the Compact.
MCA-Nepal, Nepal government, US government officials including US Embassy and ambassador have time and again clarified that there are no articles, sections and/or conditions of the Compact are against Nepal’s constitution, not threaten Nepal’s independence and sovereignty.
Diminishing rumors spread about the Compact, they have tried to assure that that MCC has no connection to any strategy and military affairs.
The Compact was submitted to the Parliament Secretariat on July 15, 2019, for ratification, given that the Compact has a strict five-year implementation period.
The Compact is set to be ratified through the current session of Parliament soon.
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