AGC Glass in Brazil Announces Social Partnerships to Guaratinguetá and the Region

These partnerships are part of the global philosophy of the company on investing on education cooperating with the better training of the future generations by developing and supporting educational projects worldwide.



The first innovation for Public Education system of Guaratinguetá is the company's partnership with the Ayrton Senna Institute on implementing programs that promote a differentiated management education to qualify the system, helping to reduce illiteracy, school failure and dropout of the students. Because of this partnership articulated by AGC Glass in Brazil, the Municipality of Guaratinguetá and the Ayrton Senna Institute are already analyzing and identifying opportunities to initiate these projects in the public schools of the city.



The Ayrton Senna Institute is a reference on developing best practices in the education area, having received the UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) the seal of the Chair in Education and Human Development, the institute is the only NGO who has ever received this recognition.



Another very important partnership was signed between the AGC and Casa Betânia, an institution that operates since 1976 in the city of Guaratinguetá, located in the neighborhoods of Nova Guará and Cohab Bandeirantes. The partnership will provide professional and technical training to more than 60 young people in many areas of knowledge such as IT, Administrative Routines and Knowledge of Guaratinguetá, Portuguese, Spanish, English, Mathematics and Accounting, Ethics and Citizenship and also Health and Quality of life.



All these courses will be held in Casa Betânia itself, recognized social work of the Salesian Sisters Filhas de Maria Auxiliadora. Although these courses are primarily targeted at young students from the city, the partnership forecasts the projects’ expansion to all the Region.



The purpose of AGC Glass in Brazil is that in a few years, these same young people also fill job vacancies open by the business unit in the town, thus completing a cycle of education, training and better employment opportunities for young people from Guaratinguetá.



"The AGC is not only synonymous with innovative product. Worldwide, the company has as one of its pillars of human development and has become a world reference in this area because of its initiatives taken everywhere it operates. We chose the Ayrton Senna Institute and Casa Betânia as our major partners in the work of human development of young people of the city and across the region. The ceremony today officiated at the commitment we have with the city and long-term relationship we want to create with these two prestigious institutions", said Davide Capellino, CEO of AGC Glass in Brazil.



The ceremony also included the participation of the President & CEO of the AGC Group, Kazuhiko Ishimura, who in his first visit to the country, did the honors in the cornerstone ceremony of the company held at the Hotel Club 500 for an audience of 500 people including employees, customers, partners and the press throughout the country.





AGC President & CEO Kazuhiko Ishimura and

Ayrton Senna Institute President Viviane Senna



About AGC Group and AGC Glass in Brazil



AGC (Asahi Glass Co. Ltd.) is a global group reference on innovation and leader on flat glass manufacturing and automotive glass for displays and also to the chemical segment, among others. In Brazil, the company offers solutions in glass for the construction industry and automotive segment. The AGC announced last year an investment of over R$ 800 million to build its first factory in all of South America This unit, which is currently under construction in the city of Guaratinguetá (SP), is expected to begin operations for 2013 and it will be the most sustainable glass factory in Brazil featuring the latest technologies from around the world.



About Casa Betânia



The Casa Betânia Guaratinguetá appeared in 1976 on the initiative of Lady Mary Pierotti Apparecida Marcondes, a retired teacher, who had new ideas about the care to underprivileged youth in the neighborhood. The project was then frequented by young pregnant women who participated in vulnerability of certain socio-educational activities. Stirred by the complexity of the work, the founder appealed to the Filhas de Maria Auxiliadora, salesias of Don Bosco, who assumed the project in 1989.



The institution is located in the neighborhood of Nova Guará and Cohab Bandeirantes in the city of Guaratinguetá and it operates services to children and adolescents in the region with special attention to families living on the margins of the Paraíba River, considered a risk area.



Media Contact

Toshihiro Ueda, General Manager, Corporate Communications & Investor Relations

AGC Asahi Glass Co., Ltd.

(Contact: Masahiko Tobari; Tel: +81-3-3218-5603; E-mail: info-pr@agc.com)