The digital divide is increasing in Latin America and the Caribbean and governments in the region are under pressure to catch up with developed countries. The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has taken an in-depth look on the impact investments on information and communication technologies are having on development and will discuss its findings with key international development experts during a seminar on May 19th at its headquarters in Washington D.C.

During the event, the Bank will unveil the findings of “Development Connections: Unveiling the Impact of New Information Technologies,” the 2011 edition of its flagship publication Development in the Americas (DIA). The book evaluated in a systematic way how information and communication technologies contributed to the success of several development projects in the region in areas ranging from education to environment and health.

Panelists include Mauricio Cárdenas from the Brookings Institution; Pedro Julio Uribe from Microsoft; Charles Kenny from the Center of Global Development; and Laurent Elder from the International Development Research Centre. They will debate how new information technologies have benefitted the region’s development in recent years and what are the necessary conditions and actions to ensure countries in the region reap the best development returns from their investments in these technologies.

Members of the media can register for the event by sending an email to Mildredr@iadb.org or to Rominan@iadb.org. The public in general can register to the seminar by visiting the Web site for the event.

The event will be webcast live in English at www.livestream.com/idbdia.

The Spanish Webcast of the event will be at www.livestream.com/biddia.

WHAT: Presentation and discussion of new IDB study: “Development Connections: Unveiling the Impact of New Information Technologies.”

WHEN: May 19 at 2:30 p.m.

WHERE: IDB’s headquarters in Washington, D.C.
               Enrique V. Iglesias Auditorium
              1330 New York Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C.

WHO:

• Luis Alberto Moreno, President of the IDB
• Santiago Levy, Vice-President for Sectors and Knowledge of IDB
• Mauricio Cárdenas, Senior Fellow and Director of the Latin America Initiative at the Brookings Institution
• Alberto Chong, IDB Principal Economist and coordinator of the book “Development Connections: Unveiling the Impact of New Information technologies”
• Laurent Elder, Team Leader of the Information, Networks, and Inclusion program at the International Development Research Centre
• Charles Kenny,Senior fellow at the Center for Global Development
• Eduardo Lora, Chief Economist (a.i.) and General Manager of the IDB's Research Department 

Pedro Julio Uribe, Latin American Director for Multilateral Organizations for Microsoft