Porto Alegre, July 18, 2003 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - Rio Grande do Sul will host the 4th World Educators' Congress, bringing together representatives of educational workers' unions from 156 countries. This news was released yesterday (17) by the president of the National Confederation of Educational Workers (CNTE), Juçara Dutra Vieira, at a meeting in the Paratini Palace with the State Secretary of Education, José Fortunati. The Secretary-General of the Educators' International Union, Fred Van Leevwen was also present at the encounter. The event will take place in Porto Alegre, between July 24 and 29, at the headquarters of the Rio Grande do Sul Industrial Federation (FIERGS).

According to Vieira, Rio Grande do Sul was selected to host the meeting, because it has already become a world reference center for the receptiveness it has shown to world figures in the forums that have been held there. "Our state, most of all the capital Porto Alegre, where other important meetings have taken place, is highly regarded," Vieira pointed out.

According to Fortunati, the state government is proud of the choice and will support the event. "We are very pleased to participate in this congress. Events of this type will provide us the possibility to carry out concrete steps on behalf of education in our state and in Brazil," he declared. The Secretary also said that he will meet with Governor Germano Rigotto to tell him about the congress and to define the state's participation in the event. "We want to contribute to the success of the congress," he emphasized.

The world meetings of the Educators' International Union take place every three years in different continents. The first was held in Zimbabwe, in Africa. The second, in Washington, in the United States, and the third, in Jomtien, in Thailand. (DAS)