NEW ORLEANS − Inter-American Development Bank President Enrique V. Iglesias and officials of the Mundo Maya Program will sign documents at 9 a.m. March 28 for a $1,291,600 grant to support a regional initiative to preserve the environmental, historical, and cultural heritage of Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico.

The signing is expected to take place during the inauguration of a seminar on "New Directions in Heritage Preservation in Latin America and the Caribbean," in the Morial Convention Center in New Orleans. The event is one of the several seminars being held in conjunction with the Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the IDB.

There will be a presentation during the seminar on the Mundo Maya program, which will include the design of an investment plan for cultural, ecological, and adventure tourism. In addition, the program will protect the environment and guarantee the participation of the Maya community and other local communities in the process. Alternative sources of income will be created for low-income inhabitants of the region.

The Mundo Maya presentation will feature four speakers: the president of the Mundo Maya Organization and the minister of tourism of El Salvador, Edgardo Suárez; the former editor of National Geographic Magazine, Bill Garrett; the former secretary of tourism of Mexico, Silvia Hernández and the director of the U.S. National Park Service, Brooke Shearer.

For more information on the Mundo Maya program contact the Permanent Technical Secretariat of the Mundo Maya organization by E-Mail at ommphaye@infovia.com.gt or Juana Salazar of the IDB at E-Mail jaunas@iadb.org