Haiti's Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe Visits Silicon Valley

The Haitian Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe on a whirlwind tour visited the most elite tech firms in Silicon Valley on November 20, 2013 and persuaded some of the world's wealthiest and most successful corporate executives to extend support with innovative ideas to the poorest country in the Americas. The Prime Minister spent the day by visiting some of the best technology companies like Google, Facebook and Apple. Lamothe joined many CEOs, stream of politicians and celebrities and did brisk business while schmoozing and discussing the role of technology in changing lives. He commented that technology has the ability to break barriers to success.

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Haiti is located just on the opposite pole of affluent Silicon Valley. Hardly 1% of the Haitian population has access to internet. Although Haiti lacks some of the most essentials in infrastructure, it has many cyber cafes in its capital city with good number of landline phones and growing number of mobile users. A major portion of the aid and relief received after the earthquake of 2010 was spent to get the country wired. The country has no Zip code; mails are delivered with hints of nearest landmarks or proximity to distinguished geo-location.

At Google, the executives have agreed to the Prime minister's request to update Haiti's satellite images on Google Earth. There was no update on this site following the devastating earthquake of 2010. Facebook has installed a new app to his request so that the political leaders may remain in constant touch with their constituents. Laurent Lamothe spoke with Apple officials on providing support to future educational initiatives.

The Prime Minister thoroughly enjoyed the experience when he slipped himself on Internet-connected Google Glass. In a question answer session at a Facebook conference room, he met common people with their problems. Later, he commented, these are the most remarkable moments in my life because here I can feel how I am capable of bringing positive changes in a man's life.

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