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TRUST FOR THE AMERICAS OPENS “POETA” CENTER IN MEXICO CITY: OAS SECRETARY GENERAL ATTENDS OPENING

The Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), José Miguel Insulza, today inaugurated a new center in Mexico City to train people with physical disabilities and economically disadvantaged young people in the use of new technologies.

The center is part of a program called Partnership in Opportunities for Employment through Technology in the Americas (POETA), coordinated by the Trust for the Americas – a non-profit affiliate of the OAS – in cooperation with the private sector. The largest corporate partner, Microsoft Corporation, has donated more than $1 million in the last three years to open 26 centers in 11 Latin American and Caribbean countries.

Secretary General Insulza thanked Microsoft and other companies, including Siemens and Daimler Chrysler, for making this initiative possible. “The POETA program reflects my focus of having the OAS actively work hand in hand with the private sector, promoting development and justice in the hemisphere. This sense of corporate responsibility will be what moves Latin America and the Caribbean into an era of growth and progress,” he said.

The POETA centers offer training and access to the tools of information and communications technologies. They help improve the lives of disadvantaged segments of society, and by using adaptive technologies, enable people with physical disabilities to take advantage of technical resources and have access to trainers experienced in working with people with special needs.

The centers are equipped with computers, Internet access and basic elements of adaptive technologies. Nearly half the beneficiaries of these programs have some type of physical or sensory disability; others are young people with low incomes.

Eugenio Beaufrand, Microsoft Vice President for Latin America and the Caribbean, said, “We are very proud of our partnership with the Organization of American States and the Trust for the Americas, and we have made a commitment to continue developing and expanding these initiatives in order to help people with low incomes fulfill their dreams and enter into today’s knowledge-based economy.”

Other partners that have joined in this effort in Mexico include Siemens Meso América, Daimler Chrysler Mexico, Universidad de la Salle, Universidad Pedagógica Nacional, Instituto Mexicano de la Juventud (Mexican Youth Institute) and the Centro de Capacitación para el Trabajo Industrial (Training Center for Industrial Labor), part of Mexico’s Public Education Secretariat.

This is the second POETA center in Mexico. It will be followed in September by the opening of several new centers in the country, in the states of Mexico and Michoacan.

Reference: PTA-E