Millennium Problem Company chief departs after temporary tenure

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Dr. Sohan Dasgupta, appointed earlier this 12 months because the political head of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), informed Fox Information Digital he's stepping down after a four-month dash, declaring his mission to protect and reposition the U.S. company as a strategic overseas coverage instrument as "achieved."

Created by Congress in 2004, MCC delivers five-year infrastructure and power compacts to growing nations that meet strict governance requirements. Not like conventional assist, its investments are structured to drive long-term financial development and open markets for U.S. corporations.

Since its creation below President George W. Bush, MCC has typically been grouped with different U.S. assist packages.

Profession workers have lengthy emphasised growth objectives like poverty discount, schooling, and infrastructure, however in contrast to USAID, MCC was established as a company physique with a fiduciary responsibility to make sure effectiveness.

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Dr. Sohan Dasgupta, political head of the Millennium Problem Company, meets with Senegalese officers to debate MCC packages. (Courtesy of Dr. Sohan Dasgupta)

A White Home official, talking on background to Fox Information Digital, argued the company too typically introduced itself as assist moderately than funding earlier than President Donald Trump took workplace.

Dasgupta pushed workers to undertake a unique lens, urgent them to judge tasks based mostly on the return on funding for the US, the diploma of strategic alignment with associate international locations, and whether or not MCC compacts may very well be used to strengthen U.S. leverage in negotiations.

A Middle for Strategic and Worldwide Research (CSIS) report this spring argued that MCC isn't a standard assist company however an "funding" instrument uniquely suited to an "America First" agenda.

The authors warned shuttering it could hand China "diplomatic and financial wins" whereas leaving half-built tasks overseas, and famous Trump-era associate choices, from Nepal to Côte d’Ivoire to the Pacific Islands, have been strategically chosen to counter Chinese language affect.

"America and the world are safer, stronger, and extra affluent with the MCC mannequin than with out it," the report concluded.

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Dr. Dasgupta is leaving the Millennium Problem Company after a short stint within the company as an appointee below President Trump. (ISSOUF SANOGO/AFP by way of Getty Pictures)

MCC’s present portfolio below Trump consists of a few of its largest-ever compacts: a $500 million deal in Nepal funding almost 200 miles of transmission traces, a $480 million compact in Sierra Leone increasing electrical energy entry and a $202 million program in Kosovo targeted on grid-scale battery storage. Different investments embrace $536 million in Côte d’Ivoire, $537 million in Mozambique and a water compact in Mongolia.

Dasgupta informed Fox Information Digital that his function was to press MCC workers to assume when it comes to U.S. nationwide safety and financial advantages. "Reforming MCC into an important nationwide safety and overseas coverage asset" was how he described his "mission achieved" second.

A Could 9 electronic mail from the White Home Liaison to MCC workers, obtained by Fox Information Digital, exhibits Dasgupta was appointed as a Schedule C Senior Advisor "assuming political management for the company."

MCC’s Fiscal 12 months 2026 Candidate Nation Report, launched this month, lists Kosovo, Nepal, Sierra Leone, Côte d’Ivoire, Mozambique, Mongolia, Solomon Islands, Fiji and Tonga amongst its eligible associate nations.

Dr. Sohan Dasgupta, political head of the Millennium Problem Company, meets with Nepal’s ambassador at MCC headquarters in Washington, D.C. (Courtesy of Dr. Sohan Dasgupta)

"Service has many types. My purpose was to hold out specific tasks and missions, then make manner for others," Dasgupta stated.

On China, he added: "Important minerals and uncommon earth components are an important a part of American energy … MCC has actually understood that."

Kosovo’s ambassador to the U.S., Ilir Dugolli, praised Dasgupta’s responsiveness. "We labored carefully quickly after he arrived at MCC … I respect him enormously for the best way he dealt with his portfolio and the way skilled he was," Dugolli informed Fox Information Digital.

On power safety, Dugolli stated: "Kosovo totally aligns with U.S. overseas coverage … Batteries are extraordinarily necessary, particularly after final 12 months’s terrorist assault on the Iber-Lepenc canal. The compact is the only most important funding for our nation’s power safety and financial resilience."

Dasgupta’s departure additionally comes because the Trump administration pursues cuts to conventional U.S. overseas assist packages and seeks to reframe America’s global engagement below its "America First" coverage.

Former workers of USAID go away the headquarters constructing in Washington, D.C. on Thursday, February 27, 2025. The layoffs come after DOGE's evaluation of the group and advice for mass layoffs. (Leigh Inexperienced for Fox Information Digital)

Whereas businesses comparable to USAID have confronted reductions and restructuring, Dasgupta argues the MCC has been preserved as a leaner, investment-driven instrument aligned with the administration’s emphasis on strategic offers and competitors with China.

Analysts estimate China controls about 70% of worldwide uncommon earth mining and almost 90% of processing capability, in line with the Oxford Institute for Vitality Research.

Between 2023 and 2025, China imposed export restrictions on strategic minerals, in line with CSIS. Dasgupta argues MCC’s work in allied nations may also help diversify provide chains and strengthen resilience, although MCC has not publicly described crucial minerals as a proper focus of its work.

"We wish independence in each sense of the phrase … these are the premises and predicates of American energy," Dasgupta stated.

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"Fast wins" like Kosovo’s battery undertaking and Nepal’s energy traces, Dasgupta stated, present how American assist can advance prosperity overseas whereas reinforcing safety at house.