MCC Vice President Sumar calls on Nepal PM Deuba to seek endorsment of US programme

By Shirish B Pradhan
    Kathmandu, Sep 10 (PTI) Vice President of the US foreign aid agency Millennium Challenge Corporation Fatima Sumar on Friday called on Nepal Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba to clear the doubts regarding the endorsement of the MCC agreement, which is under consideration in the House of Representatives.
     The meeting took place a day after a delegation representing the US agency met main opposition leader and former prime minister K P Sharma Oli to seek his party’s support for the endorsement of the MCC agreement.
     Nepal’s political parties continue to be divided over the programme worth USD 500 million. Under the MCC programme, the US government will provide the grant assistance which will be mainly utilised on strengthening Nepal's transmission line that would facilitate the export of hydro-electricity to India in the near future and also improve the country’s road networks.
     During their meeting at the Prime Minister's Official Residence in Baluwatar, Sumar and Dueba discussed the Nepal–US cooperation, the MCC agreement and Nepal's economic transformation, the officials said.
     Sumar, who arrived here on a four-day visit on Thursday, also met top leaders of major political parties and high officials of Nepal. In her meetings, Sumar underlined that the MCC programme was not part of the US military strategy.
     She met with CPN Maoist Centre chairman Pushpakamal Dahal "Prachanda", CPN – Unified Socialist chairman Madhav Kumar Nepal and Energy Minister Pampha Bhushal.
     In her meeting with Energy Minister Bhushal, the MCC delegation and the minister had a discussion around sustainable economic development and implementation of the MCC project.
     Matters related to the expansion of road network, construction of electricity transmission and the implementation of a grant of Nepali Rupees 50 billion to be received from the US for the execution of the infrastructure development project in Nepal were discussed in the meeting, the energy ministry said in a statement.
     Noting that the MCC programme was signed at the request of Nepal for mitigating poverty level and propelling sustainable socio-economic development of the country, Sumar urged the minister to extend his support for the implementation of the agreement.
     Nepal and the United States signed the MCC agreement in 2017. The MCC, however, has become a hotly-debated political issue in this country, with some parties objecting to it on grounds that the US programme is part of the Indo-Pacific Strategy and its parliamentary ratification would be against Nepal's national interest.
     In its response, the Washington-based agency made it clear that the MCC Pact did not fall under the US Government's Indo-Pacific Strategy.
     The former Oli government failed to get the MCC endorsed through the House after a section of the CPN-UML leaders and the Maoist Centre objected to it, The Kathmandu Post reported.
     Now the current Deuba government is under pressure to ratify it from the House. However, Deuba’s coalition partner is the Maoist Centre, which has not been positive about the American programme from the very beginning.
     The US officials have said that America cannot wait indefinitely for Nepal to endorse the agreement through parliament and expedite implementation of the projects both countries agreed upon in the past.
     Nepal was the first country in South Asia to qualify for the compact after it met 16 out of the 20 policy indicators. Deuba was prime minister when Nepal signed up to the agreement.
     The Millennium Challenge Corporation is a bilateral United States foreign aid agency established by the U.S. Congress in 2004. It is an independent agency separate from the State Department and USAID. PTI SBP MRJ MRJ

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)