Obama announces the expansion of the fund “100,000 Strong in the Americas” in Cuba and Argentina, with CAF's support

This commitment, in alliance with the Instituto Nacional de Educación Tecnológica de Argentina (INET) (Argentinean National Technological Education Institute), will help create a program for the development of the working force in the two countries, to increase mobility between tertiary technical education schools in Argentina and community universities in the United States, in the areas of health, science, technology, and economic development. 

CAF's Executive President, Enrique García, stated, "We are mobilized by the important task of strengthening higher technical and technological education in Latin America. To prepare our youth to face the challenges presented by new technologies and globalization is essential to guarantee sustainable development with social inclusion in our region". 

The Innovation Fund 100,000 Strong in the Americas is a public-private alliance between the White House, the association Partners of the Americas, and the National Association of International Educators (NAFSA), which was announced by the United States Secretary of State John Kerry, in January of 2014. Since then, the initiative has granted 70 scholarships to 153 higher education institutions in 19 countries of Latin America. 

CAF's Director for Institution Development, Christian Asinelli, highlighted the importance of the program, where the Institution participates since the beginning as the only multilateral bank that is part of it. He stated, "The objective is to make a contribution to exchange and integration in the region, to train young people to be able to develop in the economy of the 21st century".  

CAF's commitment with this program was highlighted by the President of the United States, Barak Obama, who stated in a speech before students in the Usina del Arte in Buenos Aires: "I am proud to announce that this effort is growing here in Argentina. Partners such as the INET and CAF, Development Bank of Latin America have committed to increase the exchange between technical universities". 

This new contribution by CAF is added to the one made in Colombia last year, where in the framework of this program, it subsidized scholarships to support agreements and new student exchanges between the universities of Colombia and the United States. 

More recently, during Obama's historic visit to Cuba this week, CAF joined the Cuban-US initiative to contribute USD 1 million to the fund in order to support scholarships for innovation and increase student exchanges between the two countries in the fields of entrepreneurship, agriculture, and the environment, among other areas. 

The central mission of the program is to increase the total number of US youths that study in the region to 100,000 in 2020, while at the same time, increasing the number of Latin American students that study in the United States. 

The objective is to strengthen the hemisphere's competitiveness, promote prosperity, and provide opportunities to study abroad to have a better prepared labor force, equipped to face the challenges resulting from globalization and the new economy of the 21st century. 

For more information on this initiative, and the speech of President Obama, access the following links: 

-          100.000 Strong in the Americas

-          President Obama's speech (8:01 - 8:40)