U.S. To Train IT Managers From Latin America And Caribbean

ByJohn S. McClenahen Virtually lost among the talk of trade promotion authority and a Free Trade Area of the Americas last month in Quèbec City was the announced launch of a U.S. pilot program to train IT managers from Latin America and the Caribbean. The Inter-American E-Business Fellowship Program is slated to begin this fall with 20 people. Caterpillar Inc., Bell Helicopter Textron, and General Electric Co. are among the U.S. firms that have expressed an interest in being part of the program, says the U.S. Commerce Dept., which will run the initiative. "It will increase expertise in information-technologies management and allow U.S. companies and their counterparts in Latin America and the Caribbean to strengthen their relationships," says Commerce Secretary Donald Evans. The training program, expected to take between five and six weeks, will focus on traditional manufacturing, services, and high-tech economic sectors that employ IT to improve efficiency and productivity and to expand their customer bases.