A partnership with Togo to foster women's entrepreneurship

Vocational training and support for African teenage girls

Milano, 10 dic. (Apcom) - Milano's mayor Letizia Moratti, the president of Togo, Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé, and Diana Bracco, the president of the Foundation for the 2015 Expo, announced their support to the World Bank's programme 'The Adolescent girls initiative: an alliance for economic empowerment'. The long-term agreement plans the training of Togolese school-age girls in Italy, also through company internships, to allow them to go back to their country with the education and experience that are necessary to start their own entrepreneurial activities.

"This programme is intended for young women," explained Letizia Moratti. "They will improve their vocational training in both public and private companies, so that they will be able to enter the labour market in Togo and occupy prominent positions." The Togolese president thanked the Milanese mayor and he underlined that this project is very important for his country. "Togo is going through a difficult period," he said. "This initiative will help tackle the rural flight and it will encourage the creation of a learning model that complies with our local needs."

The Universal Exhibition will play a key role in the project's development. "We have focused on several issues to strengthen our collaboration with Togo," added Letizia Moratti. "His presence in Milano shows our commitment and the specific attention we have been paying to African countries."

Official inauguration for the bike sharing service

By the end of 2009, 5,000 bicycles for the subscribers

Milano, 5 dic. (Apcom) - After a long planning phase and last week's snowfall, which forced the organizers to put off the inauguration of the service, the Milanese bike-sharing programme, 'BikeMi', was officially launched by the mayor Letizia Moratti. 720 cyclists can already move around the city centre on one of the 850 bicycles that are parked in the first 66 working stations.

"The city council believes in this new mobility system, for which it invested 5 million euros," explained Letizia Moratti. "BikeMi will help reduce road traffic and make the air less polluted. Now we will focus on the cycle track network, whose development is included in the city council's plan for mobility and environment."

By the end of 2009 the bicycles are due to become 5,000 and the parking stations 350. Milano will be the first Italian city with a public bike rental service comparable to those of many European metropolises. According to Clear Channel, the company that manages the services together with the public transport company Atm, when the programme is full it will have 30,000 subscribers.

Milano's city council and A2A promote electric cars

The pilot project will involve 100 vehicles in the next two years

Milano, 4 dic. (Apcom) - Milano's city council and the multi-utility company A2A have set up a work group to promote a bigger spread of electric cars all over the municipal area. The pilot project is aimed at testing both the technical feasibility and the commercial acceptance of these cars in 2009 and 2010. To find and choose the industrial partner that would be more qualified for the experimentation and diffusion of the electric vehicles, the local authorities and A2A have already made contact with the car manufacturers that have developed some 'e-mobility' plans.

The experimental project includes the construction of the basic infrastructure (power grid, stations, control centre) and the use of about 100 electric and hybrid cars. Thanks to the collaboration with A2A, Milano's city council will have the chance to widen and reintroduce the programme that had already started for the installation of pumps where to 'recharge' the vehicles around the city.

"The technologies for a widespread distribution of electric cars are ready and they can be easily found on the market," explained Edoardo Croci, the municipal councillor for Mobility, Transport and Environment. "For this reason, the city of Milano intends to act as an 'experimentation area' when it comes to vanguard solutions intended for environmental-friendly policies."

The rock funambulists of the Circus Oz make their debut in Milano

At the Teatro degli Arcimboldi until December 28th

Milano, 10 dic. (Apcom) - It is not easy to mix creativity with tradition and turn jugglery into magic through astonishing acrobatics. The Circus Oz, a group of acrobats and funambulists that was born in Melbourne in 1978, did it successfully and in nearly thirty years it has grabbed the audience of 26 countries in 5 continents. Its Italian debut took place at the Teatro degli Arcimboldi, which will host the Australian show until December 28th.

Back in the late 1970s, the company was the outcome of the merging of two prestigious groups, the Soapbox Circus and the New Ensemble. It was one of the first circuses in the world that rebelled against the use of animals. Instead, the Circus Oz staked on the skills of its trapeze artists, jugglers and acrobats. However, unlike traditional circuses it accompanies their performances with live rock music.

Another strength of the energetic Australians is their civil commitment: all the company's members believe in a collective vision of equal opportunities and social justice. They regularly work with native communities and every year collect over 243,000 dollars for the refugees. At the beginning the Circus Oz was a collective that travelled on ramshackle lorries. Although now it can afford sophisticated vehicles and a team of highly-specialized technicians, the spirit of the group hasn't changed: in the last few seasons its big top was pitched in Barcelona's Plaza de Toros, in a refugee camp in Palestine and in a Brazilian rain forest.