The Minister of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, Fidelis Manuel Leite Magalhães, met with the Chargé d’Affaires of the Embassy of the United States of America, Elias Parra, on January 13th, 2021, at the Government Palace.
During the meeting, the Minister and the Diplomat reviewed the progress of the current cooperation projects, mainly regarding the program with the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) agency, in which preparatory studies and data collection are underway. These preparatory studies and data collection are necessary to determine the projects to be covered by the implementation agreement, which is expected to be signed in mid-2021. The program will have a value of approximately US$ 285 million, to be implemented over a period of five years, focusing on the areas of education, and water and sanitation.
MCC compacts are five-year agreements through which the United States provides subsidies to partner countries to support poverty reduction programs, through economic growth. Timor-Leste was selected for a compact MCC by the Board of Directors of this American agency in December 2017.
In July 2018, Fidelis Magalhães, who, at the time, was Minister of Legislative Reform and Parliamentary Affairs, signed an initial financing agreement with MCC Vice-President Jonathan Brooks, for a financial support of US$ 750 thousand, for the creation of a team, integrated in the Millennium Challenge Compact program, responsible for identifying the economic sectors to be developed during the implementation of the program.
The Timor-Leste Government compact development team, led by Ambassador Constâncio Pinto, was officially created in March 2019.