Almost five years after signing the $500 million American grant, Nepal's House of Representatives (HoR) on Sunday ratified the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Compact with what it said was an "interpretative declaration".
A large section of Nepali society was divided over whether Nepal should adopt the American grant which is often referred to as part of US "Indo-Pacific Strategy".
Mostly, the Communist parties of Nepal were opposing the MCC Compact which had led the Sher Bahadur Deuba government in a state of collapse.
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Earlier today, a meeting of the ruling coalition had decided to ratify the MCC agreement by including the government's answers and interpretative declaration on the questions raised in the Parliament.
The interpretive declaration stated that Nepal will not be the part of US-led Indo-Pacific Strategy and Nepal will not be the part of any military alliance.
According to the ruling coalition, the 11-point "interpretative declaration" includes that the parties will not consider MCC a part of US military strategy (IPS).
Likewise, the parties have also said that the MCC Compact will not be above Nepal's constitution and laws. Likewise, the ruling coalition has said that MCC Compact will be taken only as financial assistance, and that the audit should be done by the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General of Nepal.
The parties have also said that they would even revert the decision on the basis of political consensus.
Similar kind of grant assistance that Sri Lanka had received was rejected by Lankan authorities and it is said that at the behest of China, Colombo was forced to withdraw the MCC grant.
The US government's MCC signed a $500 million compact with the Government of Nepal in September 2017 aimed at maintaining road quality, increasing the availability and reliability of electricity, and facilitating cross-border electricity trade between Nepal and India -- helping to spur investments, accelerate economic growth, and reduce poverty.
This will help support Nepal to better deliver critical services to its people, ease the movement of goods around the country, and open new opportunities for private investment -- all to create sustainable development for the people of Nepal.
According to MCC, strengthening the reliability of key infrastructure will put the country's economy on a firmer growth trajectory, advance stability, support regional security, and reduce poverty.
An additional $130 million contribution from the government of Nepal in support of the compact -- the largest up-front partner country contribution in MCC's history -- will enable even greater impact and benefits for the Nepali people.
