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NOTE BY THE DIRECTOR OF BDT REPORT ON PRIVATE SECTOR/SECTOR MEMBERS ACTIVITIES AMERICAS REGION
The Americas Region is making plans for the holding of the next meeting of the Working Group dealing with Private Sector Issues (WGPS) on the occasion of the joint event to be held between ITU and CITEL to promote the association between Member States and the private sector with the aim of enhancing the development of telecommunications in the Americas Region. The WGPS event will be held on 21 April 2008 at OAS headquarters in Washington, DC (United States), on the day before the start of the eleventh meeting of CITEL's Permanent Consultative Committee II (Radiocommunication), to be held at the same venue from 22 to 25 April 2008. The private-sector meeting is an open meeting intended to promote ITU-D's activities and projects and get private companies interested in becoming Sector Members or otherwise becoming involved in the pursuit of those activities and projects. Joint actions with the private sector are currently being planned in the following areas: – E-health: On the occasion of the recent Connect Africa Summit, held in Kigali (Rwanda) in October 2007, BDT and NEC Argentina signed a cooperation agreement with the aim of developing an e-health project for hospitals in border regions that could be applied in the border areas between Argentina, Bolivia and Paraguay. NEC's contribution would be based on one of ITU's objectives, namely to support the countries and subregions of the Americas Region in the strategic planning of infrastructure development, with the aim of boosting connectivity in rural areas and marginalized and isolated urban areas, with particular emphasis on the needs of indigenous peoples, rural schools, medical units, vulnerable sectors of society, health and education, in addition to which it would be related to the regional initiative on rural connectivity in the Americas Region. – Development of indigenous peoples: Within the context of the activities envisaged by ITU for the development of indigenous peoples in the Americas Region in the current year, and specifically for the implementation of two actions – development of a regional indigenous portal for the Americas and setting up of a telecentre in the Indigenous People's Memorial in Brasilia (Brazil) – it is hoped that the private sector will be lending its support. ITU is developing the indigenous portal with the collaboration and assistance of indigenous
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peoples from the region, the intention being to transfer ownership of the portal to indigenous representatives from the region during an event to be held in Brasilia (Brazil) in August 2008. Through a partnership with the Brazilian television station "Rede Globo", we are proposing the nomination of the station's president, Mr Roberto Marinho, as the Honourable Patron of actions for the inclusion of indigenous peoples and are counting on the station's collaboration for the holding of the event, which will take place in the Intercultural Telecentre set up by ITU, with the support of the Government of the Federal District of Brazil and in association with the operating agency Brasil Telecom, which is providing us with the necessary connectivity. The association with Rede Globo and Brasil Telecom is of great importance, since both are key players in the Brazilian communication and telecommunication sphere. ______________