Government approves ratification of Moldova's Compact Agreement

The Government approved the draft law on the ratification of the Compact Agreement between Moldova and the United States through the Millennium Challenge Corporation. The Agreement, signed on 22 January 2010 in Washington, provides for a $262m loan offered by the US to Moldova over a five-year period. The money will be purposed as follows: $108.8m will go to finance a project to modernize agriculture, including the rehabilitation of 11 irrigation systems covering 15,500 hectares of land; $132m will be used in the ongoing road rehabilitation project, specifically for the M2 Sarateni-Soroca road as well other roads; $3.5m will be used to monitor and assess the impact of the project; and $23.8 will be used to administrate and perform audit for the program. Moldova has fulfilled a number of conditions required to implement the Compact Agreement, including the modification of the Law on the Road Fund; the adoption of a law on collective users of water for irrigation purposes; the creation of the national Millennium Challenge Fund agency, etc.