Microsoft is working on new partnerships to help create economic and educational opportunities for Latin America by collaborating with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Organization of American States (OAS) on the Partnership in Opportunities for Employment through Technology in the Americas (POETA).

Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft, said at the Government Leaders Forum – Americas in Miami: “At Microsoft, we’re committed to helping transform education worldwide in order to bring social and economic opportunity to underserved communities around the world. Local and regional collaboration are a key part of our approach to achieving the scalability necessary to make real progress towards these goals.”

Through the POETA program, launched by Microsoft and OAS in 2004, people in 18 countries were given the chance to improve their skills and were offered access to technology. Microsoft and the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) will grant POETA a $4 million joint fund to create job opportunities for people with disabilities in poor countries of Latin America.

“Promoting growth and reducing poverty are at the core of our mission in Latin America and the Caribbean,” said Luis Alberto Moreno, IDB president, in a statement. “By participating in the expansion of the POETA program, we hope to encourage many more companies to open up jobs for people from traditionally disadvantaged groups in our region.”

At the second day of the annual Government Leaders Forum – Americas in Miami, Gates highlighted the importance of providing communication technology to the educational system in Latin America.

“While software and technology can play a vitally important role in increasing access to quality education, it takes more than a single organization or company to provide all the resources necessary to make a real difference,” said Gates.

Together with the Telefónica Foundation, the agreement signed by Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and Telefónica Chairman Cesar Alierta aims at helping communities with their social and economic development, as Alierta said in a statement, and bringing innovation to the educational system is essential.