FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C)
April 17, 2008
Mexico: Fomento Social Banamex & CDI Sign Agreement to Benefit Indigenous Population
Oaxaca – Fomento Social Banamex and the National Commission for the Development of the Indigenous Peoples (Comisión Nacional para el Desarrollo de los Pueblos Indígenas, or CDI), signed a framework agreement of coordination to carry out conjoint actions for the benefit and promotion of the underprivileged national indigenous population that inhabit areas of high and extremely high impoverishment.
The agreement that shall be in effect up until December 31, 2012, was subscribed by the President of Fomento Social Banamex, public accountant Alfredo Harp Helú; by its General Director and Legal Representative, attorney-at-law Fernando Peón Escalante; by the General Director of the CDI, attorney-at-law Luis H. Álvarez, by the Head of the CDI Liaison Coordination, attorney-at-law Xavier Abreu Sierra. The act was witnessed by the Constitutional Governor of Oaxaca, attorney-at-law Ulises Ruiz Ortiz.
The collaboration agreed to in the document has the purpose of improving the living conditions of the indigenous towns and communities in the medium and the long term, by means of three main initiatives:
- Encourage programs, projects and actions that promote the integral development of these communities.
- Promote the sustainable development of the indigenous population through the incorporation of technologies that shall improve their productive capability, the creation of jobs and support to their productive activities.
- Advance and promote education in the country's most impoverished indigenous communities.
Alfredo Harp Helú commented regarding this agreement: "We firmly believe that the collaboration among the social sectors for the benefit of increased scope and depth of the projects and activities in the indigenous population areas shall make them more efficient in the fight against poverty, which is the true substance of all social policy in Mexico"
The working agenda of the Fomento Social Banamex authorities in Oaxaca also included the contribution of one million pesos to the community of Santa Maria Yucuhiti, which shall be used for the benefit of 720 families to rehabilitate the roofing of their homes after having been affected by Cold Front Number 18, at the beginning of last January.
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Grupo Financiero Banamex
Grupo Financiero Banamex is the leading financial group in Mexico. Following a universal banking strategy, the Group offers a variety of financial services to legal entities and to individuals that include commercial and investment banking, insurance and investment management. Banamex was founded in 1884 and is the most important commercial bank in Mexico in terms of capital stock and profits. The Bank has an extensive distribution network of more than 1,615 branch offices and 6,695 automated-teller machines located throughout the country.