Malawi signs $350M compact with MCC in Washington

Malawi’s President Lazarus Chakwera and theUnited States Secretary of State Antony Blinken presided over the signing of a Millennium Challenge Corporation compact (MCC) worth US$350 million, on Wednesday.

The Malawian Finance and Economic Affairs Minister Sosten Gwengwe and MCC CEO Alice Albright inked the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) MOU (Memorandum of Understanding).

The aid through the MCC, which assists developing nations meeting democratic benchmarks, will fund a major road network to connect rural and urban areas in Malawi.

"Safe and reliable rail and road transport investments will certainly help reduce barriers to growth and create opportunities for all of our people," Chakwera said.

The Biden administration says through the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), the U.S. government and the Government of Malawi will include the $245 million Accelerated Growth Corridors Project.

The project "sets out an ambitious agenda to reduce transport costs and better connect goods, farms, and rural populations to markets."

The compact's Accelerated Growth Corridors Project will invest in Malawi's transportation sector, including road updates in four selected corridors located in strategic agricultural areas.

In Washington, President Chakwera called on the US to consider a project that would include Zambia and Mozambique and give Malawi reliable access to the Indian Ocean.

Blinken said the Malawi project would also address a key US priority by trying to reduce gender-based violence by making it safer for women to bring goods to markets.