10 November 2004 -  The Philippine Embassy in Washington D.C. today reported to Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto G. Romulo that “the Philippines was identified as a ‘threshold’ nation under the U.S. Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) that has an allocated budget of US$1.1 billion for Fiscal Year 2005.

Ambassador Albert F. Del Rosario informed Secretary Romulo that “being on the ‘threshold’ means a country’s rating for MCA eligibility is good, but requires further improvement.”

The candidate nations for MCA assistance are assessed on the basis of various standards that include 16 indicators grouped into three broad categories, namely, democratic governance, investing in people and economic freedom.        Of the 68 countries considered for MCA assistance for FY2005, only one country from the African region was selected as being qualified for MCA funding.     The U.S. will identify that country in due course.

Ambassador Del Rosario said that in 2003, the U.S. selected 15 least-developed countries as qualified for MCA assistance and of this number, 6 were placed in the threshold category.

The Ambassador pointed out that “the U.S. Government is prepared to work with ‘threshold’ nations in order to advance their eventual inclusion in the MCA program.”

Ambassador Del Rosario emphasized to the Secretary that “the selection of the Philippines as an MCA ‘threshold’ nation is a positive indication that the Philippines and the United States have a strong and continuing dialogue on development cooperation.”

The U.S. remains the largest source of the Philippines for bilateral Official Development Assistance on grant basis. END