Albania has been included in the Millennium Challenge  Corporation, after the MCC Board of Directors selected the country to enter into an agreement to fight poverty through economic growth. This decision followed the enactment of the MCC Candidate Country Reform Act, which empowers the agency to engage more countries in development projects.

The decision was made on December 23 and was made public this Wednesday by the US embassy in Tirana.

“Albania was praised for its democratic history, the efforts of the institutions for the fight against corruption and support for the rule of law, as well as facing development challenge. The MCC and the Albanian government will cooperate to identify the obstacles that stop economic growth and to design a development program, based on the data analysis and the needs shown by this cooperation”, the embassy announcement states.

This project will require Albania’s strong commitment to meet the rigorous MCC criteria, while the MCC Steering Board will assess the country’s development and commitment before approving the proposed program.

The new MCC legislation, which has expanded the group of countries to 33 countries, aims to increase the agency’s influence in different regions of the world, helping countries to implement important reforms to achieve sustainable development and to stimulated economic growth.