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News

SPRI promotes the World Summit in favour of Digital Solidarity, which is to be held in Bilbao in November, in the United States

During this first week in May, a delegation from SPRI has carried out an intense round of activity in the United States in order to promote the World Summit in favour of digital solidarity, which is to be held next November in Bilbao, the capital of Bizkaia, or Biscay. The SPRI delegation, headed by Josu Ocariz, General Secretary of the “II World Summit of Cities and Local Authorities on the Information Society”, made contact with financial institutions and mayors of several leading American cities to seek support for the November event in Bilbao, which is an attempt to save thousands of millions of people all over the plant from computer illiteracy.

The World Summit, which will take place from 9 to 11 November in Bilbao, seeks to bridge the so-called digital divide with the support of local institutions, as the authorities that best know the requirements of their citizens.

In Washington the SPRI delegation met with Carlos Jarque, Manager of the Sustainable Development Department of the Inter-Americano Development Bank, as well as with Isabel Neto, on behalf of the World Bank, and with Miguel Porrua, e-Government Programme Coordinator for the Organization of American States (OAS). At these meetings, the possibility of their participation in the Bilbao World Summit and in other initiatives supported by the UN and the Basque Government was analysed with representatives of these institutions. Both promoters have helped to put the IT4ALL Network into operation, an Internet platform through which 18,000 regions and cities worldwide, representing more than 1,500 million citizens, exchange knowledge about subjects such as education and health, among others.

The two Banks and the OAS have also studied the Basque Government proposal on “Development Beacons” which promotes information technology related projects in all parts of the world, always with the support of the local authorities of the five continents.

Invitation to the Mayor of Philadelphia
During their trip to the United States, the SPRI representatives also met the authorities of the cities of Philadelphia, Washington and Atlanta. The Mayor of Philadelphia, John F. Street, has been invited by the Basque delegation to take part in the international event in Bilbao by presenting a paper.

In Atlanta, the Basque delegation took part in an international encounter that analysed the local authority support for specific projects. In his presentation, Josu Ocariz detailed the key factors of the forthcoming World Summit in Bilbao, which will bring together over 2,000 representatives of local authorities all around the world, and of the commitment of Euskadi (the Basque Country) towards the Information Society. In the Basque Country, more than half of its two million inhabitants can access Internet from their homes. In the same way, Euskadi and the UN have supported the establishment of the Digital Solidarity Fund, which finances information technology related projects in the Third World.

The fight against the digital divide, which threatens to leave a large proportion of the world population without access to Internet, is constant on the part of local authorities. Several encounters are due to take place this year in preparation for the Bilbao World Summit. After the events and meetings held in the USA, Belgrade (Serbia) and Nigeria, among others, will be the venues for new meeting forums.

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