The steering committee for following up the executive agreement between the Iraqi government and the US Agency for International Development held its first meeting at the Ministry of Planning.
The Ministry of Planning said in a statement, “The Undersecretary for Technical Affairs, Maher Hammad Johan, headed the Iraqi side, while the American side was headed by Todd Sorenson, Director of the US Agency for Development in Iraq.”
The Undersecretary affirmed “the Ministry’s readiness to carry out the work of the committee in order to proceed quickly in implementing the executive agreement signed between the two sides,” noting that “this meeting is the first for the committee that undertakes the implementation of the terms of the agreement and the stipulated tasks according to the terms of reference document.
“The executive agreement aims to promote economic growth, enhance citizens’ confidence in the state, meet the needs of vulnerable population groups and combat violent extremism,” Johan said, noting that “the meeting discussed government directions in light of the new ministerial curriculum, which included several priorities, including: combating financial and administrative corruption, supporting the poor, vulnerable and low-income groups, and developing and improving services that affect the lives of citizens.
He added, “The meeting included a discussion of the allocated and unallocated financial amounts committed to implement ongoing activities within the Agency’s activities and the new amounts distributed under the agreement and its objectives, as well as a discussion of the funding mechanism for the agreement and the mechanism for selecting new projects, as well as the position of previous projects of the US Agency and the next steps.” The meeting also discussed reviewing the Agency’s ongoing programs and aligning them with the government program and coming up with a list of programs that represent the government’s priority in light of its new ministerial platform, to be presented to the committee and in coordination with the relevant government agencies in line with the terms of the signed agreement.
Source: National Iraqi News Agency