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CAMBRIDGE, Mass., March 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Abt Associates announced it has been awarded a 5-year, $17.8 million contract from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to lead a team of organizations in improving private sector competitiveness while protecting biodiversity in Mexico.
Mexico is a member of the North American Free Trade Agreement and shares a 2000 mile border with the United States. USAID programs support Mexican efforts to strengthen democratic institutions and economic competitiveness, particularly rule of law, security, and broad-based economic opportunity. Sustained economic development in Mexico will depend on improved competitiveness, which in turn, requires effective systems of governance. In addition, low competitiveness in forest communities and areas with high levels of biodiversity leads to unsustainable income-generating activities that harm the environment and destroy natural resources.
Under the contract, Abt Associates and its partners will work to enhance competitiveness by promoting more effective policy design, implementation and evaluation across three governance areas: environmental management, small business promotion, and precursor markets of financial services, water resources, and renewable energy. The team will build on prior USAID efforts in Mexico to achieve sustainable reforms by improving transparency, strengthening civil society participation, and promoting accountability.
"We believe we have an excellent team in place to build on USAID's previous initiatives to improve competitiveness and economic development in Mexico," said Constantin Abarbieritei, Division Vice President for International Economic Growth at Abt Associates. "The ultimate goal is to create deeper 'second generation reform' that results in sustainable improvements and country ownership of effective policy-level reforms."
The Abt Associates-led team of Cas
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