The round table was widely attended by public. More than 30 representatives from different organizations including Oxfam, National Statistical Service, DFID, YSU, USAID Water program, IMF, UNDP Armenia, Japonica Intersect, Cascade Capital Holdings, Institute of Labour and Social Research took part in the event.

The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) is believed to be the most successful new international development aid strategy of Bush administration. The mission of the Millennium Challenge Corporation is to reduce poverty to economic growth. Armenia is one of 16 countries which is eligible to receive assistance from MCC. The economic rates of return of each of the MCA-Armenia activities is 12.5%, the average real growth rate for the past three years, while the overall economic rate of return is estimated at 25%.

The round table was specifically targeted to the research community and covered the topics about current status of the different aspects of the program and its future direction, as well as the role of the economic analyses on determining the scope of the program during its development and throughout the implementation. The linkages between economic analyses and monitoring indicators and the impact of the country’s economic situation on the scope of the program were also addressed.

Additionally, the presentation provided information on the surveys/ studies currently undertaken by MCA-Armenia and highlighted upcoming opportunities of interest to the research community, including new procurements as well as forums and formats for sharing into any methodology and analyses generated through the program.

The participants had a unique chance to address their questions and suggestions regarding Armenia socio-economics developments and MCA-Armenia activities directly to the MCA-Armenia staff members. Questions touched upon the subjects of procurement procedure, resource sharing and future cooperation.

For more information on MCA-Armenia please visit www.mca.am