DIGITAL DIASPORA NETWORK FOR LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN TO BE LAUNCHED ON 5 SEPTEMBER

DIGITAL DIASPORA NETWORK FOR LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN

TO BE LAUNCHED ON 5 SEPTEMBER

NEW YORK, 3 September -- Representatives of leading technology companies, global banks and non-profit organizations will address the digital divide in Latin America and the Caribbean and explore ways to bridge it at a conference on

5 September at United Nations Headquarters (Conference Room 2).  During the daylong “Digital Bridge Latin America and the Caribbean”, participants will discuss how the public and private sectors can work together to help support technology-based initiatives throughout the region.

Topics will include the opportunity information technology offers in advancing development in the region, and the role of Diaspora Networks in supporting information and communication technologies (ICT) for development.  The meeting is sponsored by the United Nations ICT Task Force, the Inter-American Development Bank, the United Nations Development Programme and the United Nations Fund for International Partnerships (UNFIP), and is organized by Digital Partners.

The conference will launch the Digital Diaspora Network for Latin America and the Caribbean, a network that will provide expertise and funding to the region’s entrepreneurs using ICT to help improve local economies.  Several prominent technologists, entrepreneurs, educators and development experts living in the United States and originally from Latin American and the Caribbean have announced their committment to forming such a network.  The Global Classmates programme, connecting classrooms between Latin America and the Caribbean and the United States, will also be announced at the meeting.

The Digital Diaspora Network for Latin America and the Caribbean is the third such network to be established.  In July 2002, the United Nations ICT Task Force, Digital Partners, UNFIP and the United Nations Development Fund for Women formed the Digital Diaspora Network Africa, and in early 2003 the network for the Caribbean was launched.  The Digital Diaspora Network for Africa has already supported several projects in Cameroon, Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda.

Digital Partners Institute is a non-profit organization based in Seattle, Washington, with chapters in New York, Silicon Valley and New Delhi, India.  Its mission is to tap the power of the digital economy to develop market-based solutions that benefit the world's poor.

For more information, please visit:  www.unicttaskforce.org or www.digitalpartners.org; or contact Enrica Murmura at the United Nations ICT Task Force, tel.:  (212) 963 5913, or Jennifer Beaston at Digital Partners Institute, tel.:  (206) 412-7880, e-mail:  jbeaston@digitalpartners.org.

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