Lafaek News–The Government of Timor-Leste and the American government agency Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) will sign, on July 19th, 2022, a cooperation pact for a program, to be executed over five years, with a total amount of US$ 484 million, to reduce poverty through economic growth.

The compact agreement with MCC will be signed by the Minister of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, Fidelis Magalhães and the Vice President of MCC, Cameron Alford, in a ceremony to be held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation.

The investment will focus on two main projects, one for the improvement of the water, sanitation and drainage system and the other in the area of education and training. The first includes water treatment, sewage, drainage systems, the strengthening of institutions and regulatory bodies, and the creation of a solid supply of water and sewage for domestic use. The second will include a New Centre of Excellence for the training of new teachers that will ensure quality standards and leadership.

Of an estimated total of US$ 484 million, US$ 420 million will be provided by the MCC and the Government of Timor-Leste will contribute US$ 64 million. The amount to be provided by Timor-Leste will be allocated only to the water, sewage and drainage treatment project, of which US$ 34 million will be used to connect households and decommission the existing septic tanks. The remaining US$ 30 million will be used to support the installation of the conventional system and the installation of water pumps.

The MCC Board of Directors selected Timor-Leste in December 2017 as eligible for the implementation of an economic growth promotion programme aligned with national development priorities.

On July 21st, 2018, Minister Fidelis Magalhães and MCC Deputy Vice President Jonathan Brooks signed an initial funding agreement, worth US$ 750,000 for the creation of a team, embedded in the Millennium Challenge Compact programme, with the mission to identify economic sectors to be developed during the implementation of the programme.

This Government of Timor-Leste Compact Development Team (CDT-TL) was officially established on March 25th, 2019 and is led by Ambassador Constâncio Pinto.

From April 11th to 17th, 2022, Minister Fidelis Magalhães led a high-level delegation, comprising 14 representatives from various government entities, which travelled to Washington, United States of America (USA), for the negotiations of the compact agreement with the MCC.

The signing ceremony will be attended by members of the 8th Constitutional Government, the National Parliament, Municipal Authorities, community leaders, representatives of public organizations, civil society and the private sector, the diplomatic corps and development partners. END