WASHINGTON, D.C., February 12, 2018- This week, the U.S. Government’s Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Acting Vice President for the Department of Compact Operations Kyeh Kim participated in the U.S.-Africa Trade and Investment Forum hosted by the Corporate Council on Africa (CCA) and the U.S. Mission to the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The event brought together the African and U.S. private sector, African heads of state, ministers, senior U.S. Government officials, representatives of multilateral institutions and other stakeholders to discuss ways to promote private sector-led economic growth in Africa.
During the forum, Acting VP Kim highlighted the agency’s next steps for concurrent compacts for regional investments.
“The new authority to engage in concurrent investments enables MCC to be a more valuable strategic tool for the U.S. to promote trade and investment,” Acting Vice President Kyeh Kim said. “MCC anticipates exploring cross-border investments in power or transport sectors that are critical to increased regional integration and vital to bringing African countries into global value chains.”
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In December, the MCC Board of Directors instructed MCC to explore regional investment opportunities in five of its current compact partners in West Africa: Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, and Niger. The Board decision allows MCC to work with each of the countries to determine if there are projects that meet MCC’s strict investment criteria as well as evaluate the countries’ ability to work with MCC and a partner country on a regional investment. There is no guarantee a country selected as eligible will be granted a concurrent compact. The AGOA and MCA Modernization Act, signed by President Trump in April 2018, authorizes MCC to enter into concurrent compacts to promote cross-border economic integration, trade, and collaboration.
https://twitter.com/MCCgov/status/1095342687295684608
For more from the forum, follow #USAFTIF on Twitter.
The Millennium Challenge Corporation is an independent U.S. Government agency working to reduce global poverty through economic growth. Created in 2004, MCC provides time-limited grants and assistance to poor countries that meet rigorous standards for good governance, from fighting corruption to respecting democratic rights. Learn more about MCC at www.mcc.gov.