Armenia Gets ‘Red Light’ on Anti-Corruption: US Ambassador

Armenia did not meet the criteria for anti-corruption, which is why it was not approved for a second round of Millennium Challenge funding, said US Ambassador to Armenia John A. Heffern in an exclusive interview with RFE/RL's Armenian service (Azatutyun) today.

Though Armenia succeeded in the first round, it was unable to meet the criteria in order to get a second round of funding:

"The Millennium Challenge Corporation, the Millennium Challenge account funding is a really unique vehicle for foreign assistance because it is very, very much linked to internal reforms. A country is not even eligible to compete for these limited funds until it meets a certain number of indicators — there's a whole list of 13 indicators, in political, economic, judicial sectors that a country needs to meet […] Armenia succeeded in the first round. We did a very successful, completed a very successful compact with Armenia focused on water and irrigation projects mostly outside of Yerevan, in the regions. A lot of our assistance is now outside of Yerevan, in the regions — we think that's really important. And we were able to do that together with Armenia. Armenia's performance on these water projects was really first-rate. So there's a good track record to build on. But the indicators need to be met first — very objective criteria; it's an assessment of Armenia's performance by non-governmental organizations and civil society in these 13 indicators. The key one, and the one frankly right now where Armenia has not quite met the criteria is in the critical area of anti-corruption. The anti-corruption indicator has got to be what they call a green light. If it's not a green light, a country cannot compete for a second compact…
"Armenia right now is a red light on anti-corruption; it's very close to the level required to turn it to green, but it in fact is that right now the anti-corruption indicator for Armenia is in the red category. So that's our goal. Through our foreign assistance, our cooperation, our dialogue, our work with the Armenian government and with civil society to improve Armenia's performance in that indicator, in that really important sector, so that it can then compete for a MCC second compact at a later date. And I hope that'll be soon," he summed up.