Epress.am News from Armenia
US Ambassador to Armenia Marie Yovanovitch’s statement that Armenia is currently not eligible for receiving additional US financial support through the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) program came as no surprise to political analyst and director of the Caucasus Institute Alexander Iskandaryan. That which Yovanovitch said, according to Iskandaryan, was known long ago. “There’s nothing new here,” he said, during a press conference in Yerevan today.
Earlier, the US ambassador had said that Armenia is currently not eligible for MCA funding because of “where it stands on the MCA indicators,” which measure good governance through fair elections, freedom of the press, and freedom of assembly, among others.
The U.S. government approved $236 million worth of MCA assistance to Armenia in 2006 to finance a rural development plan submitted by Yerevan. In June 2008, Washington scrapped a $67 million segment of the aid package, which envisaged the reconstruction of hundreds of kilometers of rural roads, RFE/RL’s Armenian service reports.
“It was understandable that the program wouldn’t be implemented. The funds, which were to have been supplied to implement the program, were supplied to Georgia. The issue was due to the [2008 presidential] elections, March 1 and post-election events,” said Iskandaryan.
Political analyst Anush Sedrakyan, also present at today’s press conference, recalled the “euphoria at the start of the program.” “Now they’re trying to convince us that the end of the program is normal, regular phenomenon.”
According to her, “judging by Yovanovitch’s remarks, human rights and violations of electoral rights are more important than financial motivation.”
“With the launch of the parallel program in Georgia, I want to quote a representative of the Millennium Challenge Corporation: ‘I am delighted with Georgia, as it demonstrates a huge growth in anti-corruption, as well as proving its loyalty to democratization and human rights,” said Sedrakyan.