WASHINGTON (Sept. 21, 2022) — Today, during the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), President Joseph R. Biden Jr. announced the U.S. government will provide an additional $2.9 billion in funding to address global food insecurity, including nearly $250 million through a partnership between the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and the Government of Malawi.
President Biden’s announcement builds on the U.S.’s commitment from earlier this year to provide $6.9 billion in government assistance to support global food security.
“The United States is scaling up ways to get drought- and heat-resistant seeds into the hands of farmers who need them while distributing fertilizer and improving fertilizer efficiency so that farmers can grow more while using less,” said President Biden during today’s UNGA speech.
As part of the U.S.’s commitment to improving global food security, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will host the President of Malawi Lazarus Chakwera, and leaders from across the Government of Malawi, at the Harry S. Truman building next week to sign the Malawi Transport and Land Compact — a $350 million infrastructure grant between MCC and the Government of Malawi.
The compact’s Accelerated Growth Corridors Project will invest $245 million in Malawi’s transportation sector, including road improvements in four selected corridors located in prime agricultural areas. This goal of this project is to reduce transport costs and better connect goods, farms, and rural populations to markets.
Blinken, the Chair of MCC’s Board of Directors, joined leaders from around the world for a Global Food Security Summit yesterday as part of UNGA’s sideline events. The Global Food Security Summit reaffirmed the commitment of world leaders to act with urgency and at scale to respond to the global food crisis and avert extreme hunger for hundreds of millions of people around the world.
The Millennium Challenge Corporation is an independent U.S. government agency working to reduce global poverty through economic growth. Created in 2004, MCC provides time-limited grants and assistance to countries that meet rigorous standards for good governance, fighting corruption and respecting democratic rights.
###