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El Peruano Viernes 5 de diciembre de 2014 539398 amended on September 21, 2009 (Amendment No. One), on September 30, 2009 (Amendment No. Two), on June 23, 2010 (Amendment No. Three), on September 29, 2010 (Amendment No. Four), on June 2, 2011 (Amendment No. Five), and on September 26, 2011 (Amendment No. Six); WHEREAS, USAID agreed to grant to the Grantee, subject to the availability of funds, a total estimated contribution of Two Hundred Ninety-Three Million United States Dollars ($293,000,000) to be provided in increments under the terms of the Agreement; of which Two Hundred Ninety-Two Million Four Hundred Ninety-One Thousand Seven Hundred Ten United States Dollars ($292,491,710) has been previously obligated; WHEREAS, USAID desires to include Regional funded activities obligated directly by USAID, not previously included under Agreement. These activities are being implemented in Regional Andean countries including Peru; WHEREAS, the Parties through this Amendment No. Seven desire to amend the Agreement to: (a) Increase USAID Grant funding pursuant to ARTICLE 3 Section 3.1(a); (b) Increase the Total Estimated USAID Contribution pursuant to ARTICLE 3 Section 3.1.(b); (c) Modify the Illustrative Financial Plan attached as Table 1 of the Agreement; (d) Modify Section IV, “Program Area Descriptions” of Annex 1, “Amplifi ed Description” of the Agreement by replacing the text of some sections in Program Area 1, “Trade and Investment, Private Sector Competitiveness and Environment” and, Program Area 3, “Education”, in order to include new regional environment and education activities, which were obligated directly by USAID, under the coverage of the Agreement. NOW THEREFOR, the Parties hereby agree to amend the Agreement as follows: 1. The text of ARTICLE 3, Section 3.1(a) (The Grant) is hereby deleted in its entirety and replaced with the following: (a) The Grant: To help achieve the Objective set forth in this Agreement, USAID, pursuant to the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as amended, hereby grants to the Grantee under the terms of the Agreement an additional amount of Thirty Three Million Seven Hundred Sixty-Four Thousand Three Hundred Nineteen United States Dollars ($33,764,319). The total amount granted to date is Three Hundred Twenty-Six Million Two Hundred Fifty-Six Thousand Twenty Nine United States Dollars ($326,256,029) (the “Grant”). Under the Grant, the total funds obligated to date under this Agreement amounts to Two Hundred Eighty Million Nine Hundred Sixty-One Thousand Seven Hundred Ten United States Dollars ($280,961,710). The total funds unilaterally obligated and administered directly by USAID is increased by Thirty Three Million Seven Hundred Sixty- Four Thousand Three Hundred Nineteen United States Dollars ($33,764,319) to a new total of Forty-Five Million Two Hundred Ninety-Four Thousand Three Hundred Nineteen United States Dollars ($45,294,319). 2. The text of ARTICLE 3, Section 3.1(b) (Total Estimated USAID Contribution) is hereby deleted in its entirety and replaced with the following: (b) Total Estimated USAID Contribution USAID’s total estimated contribution to the achievement of the Objective will be Three Hundred Twenty-Seven Million United States Dollars ($327,000,000), which will be provided in increments. Subsequent increments will be subject to the availability of funds to USAID for this purpose and the mutual agreement of the Parties, at the time of each subsequent increment, to proceed. The Parties agree that each such incremental contribution provided, if any, shall cumulatively increase the total amount of the Grant set forth in Section 3.1 and consequently may increase the Grantee’s contributions under Section 3.2. 3. The Illustrative Financial Plan contained in Table 1 of the Agreement is hereby deleted in its entirety and replaced with the Illustrative Financial Plan attached hereto as Table 1. 4. Section IV, “Program Area Descriptions” under the Annex 1 “Amplifi ed Description” of the Agreement, is hereby modifi ed in certain sections as described below: IV. Program Area Descriptions 1.Program Areas: Trade and Investment, Private Sector Competitiveness, and Environment The text of this Program Area is hereby deleted in its entirety and replaced with the following: 1.1.Background Under this Agreement in the above named Program Areas, the United States Government (USG) will provide trade capacity-building (TCB) assistance to Peru, especially in the sector of Micro and Small-sized Enterprises (MSEs), environment, and labor, including specifi c support to take full advantage of the U.S.-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement (PTPA). This assistance is based on the premise that sustained economic growth and conservation of the environment are critical to reducing poverty and that cooperation to enhance participation in global trade is a highly leveraged form of development assistance. Empirical research supports the hypothesis that trade liberalization is good for economic growth and can reduce poverty by expanding internal markets, opening new export markets, and increasing a country’s competitiveness; and environmental management sustains economic gains and resources for future generations. Furthermore, because effective environmental management of natural resources often requires transnational coordination and regional cooperation, the USG will also provide assistance for regional environmental programs to Peru and neighboring Andean Amazon countries including Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay and Brazil. The work to be carried out through this Agreement continues the work under the Strategic Objective Grant Agreement (SOAG No. 527-0411) signed on July 23, 2004. In that SOAG, the USG provided trade capacity building assistance to support PTPA negotiations, reduce transaction costs for MSEs, and link thousands of small-scale producers from the impoverished Mountains, Jungle and northern border regions of Peru to higher value market chains. USG assistance also launched initiatives to support the devolution of environmental management responsibilities from national to regional authorities and certify over 600,000 hectares of forest land under internationally recognized standards and practices. Furthermore, USG assistance will help to conserve biodiversity and mitigate the impacts of climate change in Peru, and in the Andean Amazon region broadly. As this SOAG ends, many challenges remain including ensuring that the PTPA is fully taken advantage of and becomes an effective tool for reducing poverty, generating broad-based economic development, and enhancing incentives for the GOP, the private sector, civil society, and indigenous groups to conserve biodiversity and sustainably manage forests. Furthermore, compliance with internationally accepted workers’ rights and enforcement of labor regulations will help bring more Peruvian businesses, especially the MSEs, into the formal economy. The USG also launched the Andean Trade Capacity Building Program (ATCBP) under the previous SOAG to help the Andean countries improve labor standards, strengthen intellectual property rights (IPR), and remove technical barriers to trade. The objective was to prepare the Andean countries for a free trade agreement with the United States. This objective was met in Peru and Colombia and other signifi cant trade milestones were reached in Bolivia and Ecuador related to labor and international standards. The new Agreement will build on results achieved in each country and continue to help increase regional trade and improve their global competitiveness. In order to face the challenges of the PTPA with the U.S., the government of Peru is implementing a series of legal measures specially designed to support MSEs’ competitiveness and their integration into the formal economy. 1.2 Results Assistance Objectives 1.2.1 Reduce poverty through trade-led growth Trade-led economic growth that benefi ts all is a key U.S. foreign policy objective in Peru. Most MSEs in Peru do