African Growth and Opportunity Act and Millennium Challenge Act Modernization Act

African Growth and Opportunity Act and Millennium Challenge Act Modernization Act or the AGOA and MCA Modernization Act

This bill directs the President to establish a website for the collection and dissemination of information regarding the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).

The Department of State is urged to promote the use by eligible sub-Saharan African countries of the benefits available under the African Growth and Opportunity Act.

The President is urged to:

facilitate trans-boundary trade among eligible sub-Saharan African countries; provide training for business and government trade officials on accessing AGOA benefits; provide capacity building for African entrepreneurs and trade associations on production strategies, quality standards, and market development; provide capacity building training to promote product diversification and value-added processing; and provide capacity building and technical assistance funding to help African businesses and institutions comply with U.S. counter-terrorism policies. The Millennium Challenge Act of 2003 is amended to permit an eligible country that has entered into a Millennium Challenge Compact to enter into one additional concurrent compact under specified conditions. Regarding a subsequent nonconcurrent compact, a country's eligibility shall be based on significantly improved performance across the criteria relevant to selection for the preceding compact.

The bill establishes, beginning with FY2013, new assistance criteria for a low-income or a lower middle income candidate country eligible to enter into a Millennium Challenge Compact with the United States.

The Millennium Challenge Corporation shall: (1) before selecting a compact country, provide the Board of Directors with information regarding the country's treatment of civil society; and (2) submit an assessment of the feasibility of developing partnerships at the sub-national level within candidate countries.