US software giant Microsoft said on Friday it would pump $1 billion of cash and software into a computer training programme it has set up with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
"The scale of the programme we have here is quite unusual in terms of corporate giving. It's $1 billion over five years and that represents both cash and software," Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates told journalists at the World Economic Forum.
The United Nations will work with the Microsoft Unlimited Potential programme to invest in community centres in poor regions where people can learn how to use personal computers and enhance their job prospects.
The announcement follows a pilot project in Afghanistan where the two organisations set up centres at 16 locations, aiming to train 12,000 users this year.

Copyright Reuters, 2004

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