Thursday March 17, 2011 - The president of Brazil Dilma Rousseff met this afternoon at the Presidential Palace with Shakira Mebarak founding member of ALAS. The Colombian artist took the opportunity to meet with Brazilian president to discuss plans of action for the ALAS Foundation, dedicated to children in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The singer began the meeting congratulating the President of a recently announced new program dedicated to the care of women during pregnancy and newborns. The program will build 6,000 kindergartens and preschools in the country by 2014, or 1,500 units per year.

Shakira said to the media after the meeting: "The state has a historic opportunity to eradicate extreme poverty and inequality. Our struggle with ALAS, the movement to which I belong, seeks to promote strategies for early childhood education and care to children between 0 and 6 years,"

The meeting also discussed the importance of investing in early childhood and agreed a working alliance between the ALAS Foundation and the Government of Brazil.

"My meeting with Dilma Rousseff was highly positive, the President showed great enthusiasm to initiate projects in collaboration with ALAS for children aged 0 to 6 years living in poverty. We will move on won't give up on the Latin American children," Shakira told the press.