Kathmandu: The government is preparing to table the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Compact in the meeting of the House of Representatives scheduled for Wednesday.
The meeting of the Lower House has been summoned for 1 pm today. The Compact is not in probable business for today’s meeting. But it is likely the tabling of the compact will be included in the agenda through the meeting of the Business Advisory Committee slated for today.
As stated in the business list, Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba would submit the third annual report of FY 2077/078 BS of the Tharu Commission and approval of three condolence motions.
A meeting of the Nepali Congress Parliamentary Party held on Tuesday had decided to vote in favor of the compact. The meeting concluded that it was the government’s political duty to table the MCC compact in the Federal Parliament for its ratification.
Stating that the NC and other parties of the current ruling coalition are directly engaged in the process of MCC cooperation, the NC argued that the MCC should be immediately tabled in the parliament for its ratification since the current government has the responsibility to advance it as per the move initiated by the outgoing government.
Two other ruling parties— CPN (Maoist Center) and CPN (Unified Socialist)—are undecided on the much-talked-about aid. The main opposition party UML has said that it will take ‘an appropriate decision’ after the ruling party makes its view public.
On September 14, 2017, Nepal signed a USD 500 million Compact with the MCC, the US foreign assistance agency, at the US State Department in Washington DC. No significant progress has been made so far as the compact is waiting for parliamentary ratification.
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