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Experts to examine channeling billions of dolars in remittances for development of Latin America, Caribbean
May 10, 2001
Experts from the private and public sector, academia, and multilateral financial institutions will meet at a conference in Washington, D.C., on May 17-18 to examine ways to channel into productive investments part of hundreds of billions of dollars in remittances that are expected to be sent home from abroad by emigrants from Latin America and the Caribbean over the next 10 years.
MIF approves $3 million for private sector projects in youth entrepreneurship, and small businesses
May 02, 2001
The Multilateral Investment Fund today announced the approval of $3 million in grants to promote private sector projects to promote youth entrepreneurship, small business, and foreign investment.
The projects approved are as follows:
Bolivia - $651,600 grant to the Bolivian National Chamber of Commerce to raise standards for food safety and quality and promote quality management systems in small and medium-sized businesses.
IDB to help countries get set for trade pact
May 01, 2001
The Inter-American Development Bank will continue to provide financial and technical assistance to borrowing members as they enter the final stages of negotiations to create a hemispherewide free trade agreement, IDB President Enrique V. Iglesias said at the Summit of the Americas held April 20-22 in Quebec, Canada.
The university in my bedroom
May 01, 2001
It is 9:30 p.m. in Lima, Peru, and Carolina Barriga’s four young children are finally asleep. The television is off, the phone has stopped ringing, and the house is reasonably neat. Seizing the moment, she decides to do a little work on her MBA degree.
IDB invests in Peru’s virtual education pioneer
May 01, 2001
While giants like ITESM and UNext are staking out a global market for virtual higher education, Peru’s Asociación Promotora de Institutos Tecnológicos Superiores (TECSUP) is using the Internet to meet pent-up demand within the country’s borders.
In search of the killer strategy
May 01, 2001
Claudio Castro, formerly a senior education advisor for the IDB, is now president of the advisory board of Faculdade Pitágoras, a large Brazilian enterprise that offers education directly to 15,000 students and also franchises support services to 260 additional schools. Pitagoras recently signed a partnership with the University of Phoenix, a leading U.S. provider of online higher education. The joint venture will create a Brazilian higher education institution that will offer four-year undergraduate education in 50 planned campuses throughout Brazil.
Blackboard, television or computer screen?
May 01, 2001
Carlos Cruz is president of the Universidad Virtual of Mexico’s Instituto Tecnológico de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM), one of Latin America’s most prestigious private universities. Long a leader in distance education via satellite television, ITESM is now moving aggressively into Internet-based instruction and is expanding its course offerings, which have traditionally focused on business, technology and management. ITESM’s Universidad Virtual now has offices in 10 Latin American countries.
A portable bridge for the digital divide
May 01, 2001
If you happen to be near the entrance to Sharon Primary School in Jackson, Barbados, when the last bell rings, you will see children toting laptop computers with the nonchalance usually reserved for old textbooks. The laptops–sturdy, shockproof models designed to survive schoolyard scuffles–are part of an unorthodox effort to eliminate the digital divide in the country's poorest schools.
Internet or television?
May 01, 2001
Charles Herington is president and CEO of AOL Latin America. The following article is adapted from remarks he made at a seminar on development and the Internet held during the Bank’s annual meeting in Santiago, Chile, last March.
In recent years, Latin America has become the region posting the highest growth in interactive services in the world. In fact, from a strictly commercial point of view, it is an ideal market for achieving strong and continuous growth.
Experts say more effort needed to increase competitiveness of infrastructure services in Latin America
April 25, 2001
Panels of international experts have urged greater efforts in Latin America and the Caribbean to promote competitiveness in infrastructure services to counteract persistent monopolistic practices and high costs.
Speaking at a conference at the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington, D.C., April 23-24, academic, government, and private sector representatives agreed that promoting competitiveness was necessary but complex, depending on the number of market entrants, the country’s overall economic development, and its regulatory and legal structure.