USA / MALI: U.S. and Mali sign $461 million development agreement to reduce poverty in the West African nation

Record ID: 455024

  • Title: USA / MALI: U.S. and Mali sign $461 million development agreement to reduce poverty in the West African nation
  • Date: 17th November 2006
  • Summary: (AD1) TIMBUKTU, MALI (FILE - 2004)(REUTERS) VARIOUS OF CHILDREN WITH DONKEYS VARIOUS OF BOY DRAWING WATER FROM WELL VARIOUS OF PEDESTRIANS IN TIMBUKTU
  • Embargoed: 2nd December 2006 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA9W0ZLVGEGMUAJ84YZJBW3W928
  • Story Text: Representatives from the United States and the Republic of Mali on Monday (November 13) signed a $461 million development agreement or compact to help reduce poverty in the West African nation.
    President Amadou Touré of Mali and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice witnessed the ceremony which was approved by the Board of Directors of the Millennium Challenge Corporation in October.
    The Compact was signed by Moctar Ouane, Mali Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and by Ambassador John J. Danilovich, CEO of Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC).
    MCC is a United States government corporation designed to work with some of the poorest countries in the world. It is based on the principle that aid is most effective when it reinforces good governance, economic freedom, and investments in people that promote economic growth and elimination of extreme poverty.
    Mali has made significant political, social, and economic strides in the past decade.
    But the landlocked country is still one of the poorest in the world with a $380 per capita income. Its economy depends on low value agriculture products including cereal crops, livestock and fishing, which are vulnerable to erratic weather patterns.
    The MCC Compact aims to reduce poverty by increasing production and productivity of agriculture and small and medium-sized enterprises. It will also help expand Mali's access to international markets and trade.
    The largest of the components is the $234.6 million Alatona irrigation project, which is expected to increase food production and productivity, improve land tenure security, modernize irrigated production systems, and mitigate the uncertainty from subsistence, rain-fed agriculture.
    The $89.6 million airport improvement project will remove constraints to air traffic growth and increase the airport's efficiency in both passenger and freight handling.
    Co-located with the airport is a $94.3 million industrial park project that will establish an anchor for a growing industrial sector, particularly in agro-processing.
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