The president of both Aeropuertos Argentina 2000 and the Private Sector of the Americas, Julio Ernesto Gutiérrez Conte,participated in the Opening Plenary Session of the Clinton GlobalInitiative Fifth Annual Meeting. The event was featured by the lecturesof the President of the United States, Barack Obama, and President Bill Clinton.
Gutiérrez Conte was extremely interested in the Discussion Panel on Global Challenges that included President Clinton; the President of Chile, Michelle Bachelet; the Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia, Kevin Rudd; the CEO of Wal-Mart Stores, Mike Duke; and the president of the Board and also CEO of Coca-Cola, Muhtar Kent.
Clinton highlighted that more than 60 current and former heads ofState, 500 business leaders, and 400 leaders from non-governmental andphilanthropic organizations will be attending the meeting, representing84 countries.
In addition, he profited from the occasion to announce the first twocommitments of this year’s meeting and gave a progress report on anongoing commitment:
Matt Damon, the Hollywood star, announced the commitment ofWater.org to bringing safe drinking water and sanitation to a minimumof 50,000 people in Haiti over the next three years.
On its part, Coca-Cola committed to alleviating poverty byincreasing opportunities for women in the Coca-Cola distributionnetwork in Africa. In partnership with the Academy for EducationalDevelopment, and with support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation,Coca-Cola will work to identify strategies for overcoming barriers towomen’s participation, particularly skills development and access tofinancing sources.
Global Give Back Circle’s founder, Linda Lockhart, appeared on stagewith three young women who have benefited from the organization’sprevious commitment. Global Give Back Circle committed to helpingadolescent girls in Kenya achieve financial and societal independencewith the help of mentors, the local community, and financial partners.Already, 35 high school graduating seniors have been accepted toUniversities across Kenya.
About the Clinton Global Initiative
Established in 2005 by President Bill Clinton, the Clinton GlobalInitiative (CGI) brings together a community of global leaders todevise and implement innovative solutions to some of the world’s mostpressing challenges. Since 2005, CGI Annual Meetings have broughttogether more than 100 current and former heads of state, 10 of thelast 16 Nobel Peace Prize Laureates, hundreds of leading CEOs, heads offoundations, major philanthropists, directors of the most effectivenon-governmental organizations, and prominent members of the media.These CGI members have made more than 1,400 commitments valued in $46billion, which have improved the lives of more than 200 million peoplein more than 170 countries.
