President Jahjaga’s Statement: I have the pleasure to share with you some excellent news. Kosovo has been selected by US Government Agency, Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), to be a beneficiary of a large investment grant from this agency.
During a phone conversation with the MCC Chief Executive, Dana J.
Hyde few moments ago, I was told the decision taken on development of
support for Kosovo by the Board of this agency, led by the US State
Secretary, John Kerry.
Kosovo has been selected to develop the so-called “Compact” programme, a
wide scope investment programme, of a duration of few years, which will
enable the transformation of certain economic sector, creation of new
work places, lowering of poverty and fighting of corruption.
In the past, selected countries for compact programme have benefited
hundreds of millions of dollars. The sum which Kosovo stands to benefit,
depends on the coordination of institutions for the presentation of
programs for certain sectors, which we would like to reform through this
programme.
Kosovo’s qualification process for MCC funds has been led by the Office
of the President since February of this year. Programs and assistance
aims will be determined during the coming months between Kosovo and MCC.
I would like to thank American people and the US Government for the
continuous and unsparing help to Kosovo’s development and progress.
I would also like to thank Kosovo’s great friends, Congressman Eliot
Engel and his office, for the support it has provided to Kosovo’s
qualification process for MCC assistance.
I remain dedicated to the expansion of partnership between Kosovo and
MCC, which will provide exceptional opportunities for creation of new
work places and sustainable economic growth.
Kosovo’s selection for the Compact Investment Programme has been made
possible due to progress which our country has shown in its democratic
development, good governance and reforms in the field of rule of law.
Continuation of this assistance in the coming years will depend
exclusively on the positive indicators of our country, in democratic
development and fighting of corruption.
Today’s decision comes as a result of last month’s MCC report, in which
Kosovo ahs for the very first time scored positively in most of
indicators, making considerable progress in reforms and democratic
governance.
Kosovo has this year advanced in ranking of democratic rights, mainly as
a result of proper conduct of 2013 and 2014 elections. In fighting of
corruption, improvement of coordination of rule of law agencies has
enabled Kosovo to finally score positively on the corruption control
indicators. According to World Bank “Global Governance Indicators”,
Kosovo has this year improved corruption control for 16 %, as compared
to last year.
During the coming months, Kosovo, in partnership with MCC, will focus on
drafting of the assistance programme and selection of projects which
will remove the barriers for sustainable economic programme.
Kosovo’s MCC funds qualification process
February-September 2015: President Jahjaga prioritises Kosovo’s
qualification for MCC funds. Madam President establishes the Working
Group, led by the Office of the President, consisting of representatives
of Ministry of Health, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Education,
Kosovo Statistics Office and UN specialized agencies, UNDP, UNICEF, WHO,
UNKT, which will be gathering data and improve the performance on MCC
specified indicators.
October 2015: President Jahjaga is received in Washington by the MCC
Vice President, Beth Triter. At this meeting, MCC officials praise the
work and the cooperation with the Kosovo team.
October 2015: Kosovo submits to MCC the final complementary report.
November 2015: MCC publishes its evaluation for each country. Kosovo for
the first time in five years scores positively in 13 indicators,
compared to positive scoring in only 7 indicators in 2014, which opens
the way to benefiting form the funds of this US agency.
December 2015: MCC Board at the annual meeting selects Kosovo to be a
beneficiary of the Compact programme, which paves the way to
commencement of drafting of an intensive programme.
Kosovo’s evaluation
Evaluation of indicators for Kosovo for 2016:
https://assets.mcc.gov/documents/score-fy16-english-xk-kosovo.pdf