On September 29, 2006, the five-year Millennium Challenge anti-poverty development program agreed to earlier this year by the United States and Armenia was officially inaugurated with an exchange of letters, U.S. Embassy in Yerevan told PanARMENIAN.Net. In a ceremony held at the Ministry of Finance and Economy, Finance Minister Vardan Khachatryan and Alex Russin of the Millennium Challenge Corporation exchanged letters which formally inaugurate the $235 million anti-poverty program. The Armenian Compact is designed to reduce rural poverty through a sustainable increase in the economic performance of the agricultural sector. The Program will directly impact approximately 750,000 people, or an estimated 75 percent of the rural population, and is expected to reduce the rural poverty rate and boost annual incomes.