Ambassador Daniel Sepúlveda participates in the AMCHAMDR Board of Directors. The telecommunications sector in Latin America is one of the fastest growing in the world and the Internet has also served as a platform.

Santo Domingo, June 15, 2016.- The Board of Directors of the American Chamber of Commerce received as guest of honor Mr. Ambassador Daniel A. Sepúlveda, Assistant Secretary of State of the United States and Coordinator of International Communications and Information Policy of the United States, taking advantage of his visit to the country to participate in the celebration of the General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS) in the country, where he presented "Development of the Digital Industry in Latin America."

He was accompanied on the visit by Nikolis Smith, Advisor in the Office of International Communications and Information Policy at the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs, U.S. Department of State, and Rafael Patiño, Commercial Attaché at the Embassy of the United States of America in Santo Domingo. Ambassador Sepúlveda shared relevant information on the digital economy, the backbone of the modern economy, which impacts all sectors, from manufacturing, which relies on communications for supply chain management, to companies connecting with consumers, and producers analyzing data and creating new markets.

For policymakers, ensuring we develop the right legal and regulatory environment for the digital economy to flourish across the Americas is absolutely crucial to maximizing the benefits of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for our societies, and I know it's a goal we all share, Sepúlveda said.

To aid in that effort, the State Department has launched the Global Connect Initiative (GCI), with the goal of enabling an additional 1.5 billion people to become Internet users by 2020 through better coordination of existing programs to bridge the digital divide, focusing on nations that want and need help, and integrating new actors into the effort, including the development community and international development banks.

The telecommunications sector in Latin America is one of the fastest-growing in the world, and the Internet has also served as a platform for anyone connected to it to contribute to political, economic, and social discourse. The creativity and innovation it has generated is fostering the global public good. Preserving its openness and encouraging its sustained growth is an honorable endeavor, and one in which our hemisphere can and must join together to strengthen the digital economy, extend its benefits to the rest of the world, and preserve the Internet for the future.