Nepalese citizens oppose MCC agreement

COLOMBO (News1st): People in Nepal staged protests urging its Parliament to disapprove the US-sponsored Millenium Challenge Corporation (MCC) agreement, citing that it would affect the country's sovereignty. Nepal had signed the MCC agreement in 2017 to obtain a 500 million US dollar grant to improve its energy sector, improve regional energy connectivity and control transportation costs to encourage growth, private investment and job creation. The agreement with Nepal is MCC’s first compact in South Asia. The then Nepalese finance minister Gyanendra Bahadur Karki, current Chief Operating Officer of MCC Jonathan Nash, and several others gathered in Washington, D.C to sign the contract on September 14, 2017. The current US Ambassador to Sri Lanka Alaina B. Teplitz had backed the agreement during her tenure as the then US Ambassador to Nepal. During the Standing Committee meeting of the ruling Nepal Communist Party, leaders appeared sharply divided over whether the federal parliament should ratify the United States’ MCC compact. The Compact has now triggered waves of protests from the streets to the parliament over its contentious provisions. The opponents inside and outside the ruling party argue that the US is trying to foist its “hidden agenda” on Nepal through the grant. The Secretariat meeting of the ruling Nepal Communist Party got underway today, to discuss about proposal for endorsement of Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) agreement, among others. Sri Lanka has not signed the agreement which had come up during the previous government.