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The european commissioner for the information society accepts the Basque Government´s invitation to attend the World Summit on Digital Solidarity to be held in Bilbao
Viviane Reding, European Commissioner for the Information Society, has accepted the Basque Government’s invitation to become a member of the Honorary Committee of the “2nd World Summit of Cities and Local Authorities on the Information Society”, as well as to attend this event, which is to be held in Bilbao in November. The Basque Government Minister for Industry, Trade and Tourism, Ana Agirre, confirmed this news after her meeting with the Commissioner this morning.
The meeting, whose purpose was to explain to the EU authorities the steps taken to date in organising this World Summit for Digital Solidarity, which is to be held this year in the capital of Bizkaia, has been very positively valued by the Minister, because Commissioner Reding’s acceptance to cooperate with this event means a clear show of support by the European Commission for it to be held.
Ana Agirre informed the European Commissioner about the initiatives carried out since the first edition of the World Summit took place in the cities of Lyon and Geneva in December 2003, and also about the support received to date by the organisers of the Bilbao encounter, promoted by the UN and organised in conjunction with the Basque Government.
During the course of the meeting, the Basque Government representative also had the opportunity to inform about the efforts being made in the Basque Country, Euskadi, in favour of the Information Society. Minister Agirre explained the master guidelines of the Basque Country in the Information Society Plan (Plan Euskadi para la Sociedad de la Información - PESI), and also about the initiatives which are enabling the Basque Country to become positioned as a reference in this field, which has been responsible to a great extent for Bilbao being chosen as the venue for this Summit.
In November, the capital of Bizkaia will host the “2nd World Summit of Cities and Local Authorities on the Information Society”, an international encounter against the so-called “digital divide” and in favour of electronic solidarity, to highlight the role of those institutions which are closest to the citizen in the dissemination of new Information Technologies. The encounter in Bilbao will bring together more than 2,000 representatives of institutions from all parts of the world, who will analyse the formulas that facilitate access to new technologies for most inhabitants of the planet.
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