Compact Program will be signed in December

The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) will allocate the US$262 million to Moldova within five years of the coming into force of the Compact Program that will be signed in December this year, Minister of Finance Veaceslav Negruta announced. The multiannual financial plan had been negotiated with the MCC in Washington during November 2-5. [US$101.8 million] will be allocated for the switch to advanced agriculture project. Eleven irrigation systems occupying 15,500 hectares will be rehabilitated. There will be launched a credit line for post-harvesting and co-financing investments, in concert with the United States Agency for International Development, and a project to improve the value chain in agriculture. The credit line will be administered by the Ministry of Finance and the selected international companies. A sum of [US$132 million] will go to implement the road rehabilitation project. There will be repaired the M2 Sarateni–Soroca road section and carried out a feasibility study. Eventually, there will be designed the segment of the intersection to Drochia – Otaci. The project will be implemented by the State Road Administration of the Ministry of Transport and Road Infrastructure and international contractors. [US$3.5 million] will be allocated for monitoring and assessing the impact of the program, while [US$23.8 million] for administering it and carry out the audit every six months. Negruta said the draft agreement on the implementation of the Compact Program was also negotiated. It sets out the implementation framework, the role of the Government and institutions responsible for implementation, etc. For the Compact agreement and the agreement on the implementation of the program to take effect, the Parliament of Moldova must ratify it, while the Government must create the Millennium Challenge Fund in Moldova, which will be responsible for the implementation of the two documents. Also, there must be adopted a number of new laws and modified the existing laws. The Compact agreement must come into force within six months of its signing.