President Clinton Visits Latin America

President Clinton travels to Peru and Colombia to meet with people benefitting from health, education, and other programs launched by the Clinton Giustra Sustainable Growth Initiative
Building on his longstanding commitment to Latin America, President Bill Clinton traveled to Peru today to begin a tour of projects that have been launched by the Clinton Giustra Sustainable Growth Initiative (CGSGI), a project of the William J. Clinton Foundation, in Peru and Colombia. At the invitation of the national governments, CGSGI is working with local communities, the Carlos Slim Foundation, and several partners in the private sector to create jobs, increase incomes, and strengthen health, education, and the other building blocks of productivity - all in ways that can be locally sustained.
"This trip to Peru and Colombia gives me the opportunity to see the work of my Foundation in progress and talk to the people who are benefitting from our programs," President Clinton said. "From dozens of women who are running their own business in Colombia to thousands of people who now will receive cataract surgeries in Peru, we are helping people access the business support, health care, and education that will increase incomes, improve lives, and create sustainable development."
In Peru, President Clinton observed the launch of a project of CGSGI, the Ministry of Health, and the Carlos Slim Foundation that will deliver 50,000 additional cataract surgeries in Peru over the next four years, including the poorest regions of the country. Cataracts are a treatable yet are the leading cause of blindness in the developing world, and many thousands of people in Peru lack access to the affordable surgeries. By restoring the vision of 50,000 Peruvians over four years, this project will help increase the productivity of thousands of people and their families.
Tomorrow in Colombia, President Clinton will visit with Afro-Colombian businesswomen from the rural area of Quibdó who run an own organic spice business and, with CGSGI, are strengthening their business and developing new markets for their products. He also will visit a school launched in Barranquilla by Pies Diescalzos Foundation that is receiving support from CGSGI and providing nutrition and job training for thousands of disadvantaged youth and their families. These are examples of other projects launched by CGSGI in Latin America.
This visit marks the first time that President Clinton has traveled to Peru. While in Lima, he spoke to university students and officials at Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas about their role as global citizens in addressing some of the world's most pressing challenges.
About the Clinton Giustra Sustainable Growth InitiativeThe Clinton Giustra Sustainable Growth Initiative is an innovative partnership between the William J. Clinton Foundation, the private sector, governments, local communities, and other NGOs to increase the scope, scale, impact, and sustainability of social and economic development efforts in areas where poverty is widespread. Established in June 2007 by President Bill Clinton and Frank Giustra, CGSGI focuses on alleviating poverty in the developing world through market-driven development that creates jobs and increases incomes, and by strengthening factors that enable economic growth such as health and education. CGSGI is an effort to transform the way businesses do business in the developing world, by creating opportunities and models for all industries seeking to work responsibly in those regions. Learn more at www.clintonfoundation.org.