Albania gets second tranche of MCA funding

TIRANA, Oct 18 – Albania entered another round in its fight against corruption today with the signing of a second Millennium Challenge Corporation Threshold Country Agreement between Albania and the United States.
The United States gave Albania a package of US$15.7 million in aid to help the tiny Balkan country tackle corruption, improve the business environment and judiciary.
The two-year assistance is the second part of the threshold Millennium Challenge Corporation programme, which is an initiative of the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush, after a successful first stage that also supported reforms to fight corruption in tax administration, public procurement and business registration.
The new deal, managed by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), seeks to improve the judicial system’s capacity to handle administrative disputes, reduce corruption and inefficiency in tax administration, establish a one-stop shop for business licensing, create a transparent construction permit system, and form joint investigative units in six cities to investigate corruption cases.
U.S. Ambassador John L. Withers II likewise noted that the US-Albania partnership under the MCC Program had achieved real reform. He stressed that more work needed to be done to uproot corruption, whose corrosive effects, “continue to seep into Albania’s education and health systems, sap public confidence in Albania’s courts, (and) compromise the private property rights of all Albanians.” Withers added that, in Stage 2, “the US will help Albania succeed in its fight against corruptionƢecause Albanians demand nothing less.”
Corruption remains a continuous threat to Albania’s democracy despite its recent improvement.
Albania, one of Europe’s poorest countries, improved 20 places, to 85, among the 159 nations in Transparency International’s 2008 corruption perception index, an annual ranking closely watched in Eastern Europe.
The international community has told Albania it must fight corruption, curb human trafficking, and improve the judiciary and its administration if it wants to join the European Union and NATO.