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Ministers José Montilla y Jordi Sevilla become new members of the Honorary Committee for the World Summit in Bilbao
José Montilla, Minister for Industry, Tourism and Trade, and Jordi Sevilla, Minister for Public Administration, are the new members of the Honorary Committee for the II World Summit of Cities and Local Authorities on the Information Society, which is to be held in Bilbao next November.
This governing body is composed of authorities from all parts of the globe. Taking part on the Honorary Committee, under the presidency of H.M. King Juan Carlos I, are presidents of regions, mayors, elected representatives and other personalities who represent organisations that support this international encounter in Bilbao in favour of digital solidarity.
Committee members will include Marcel Boisard, Assistant Secretary General of the UN, and Viviane Reding, EU Commissioner for Information Society and Media. Also taking part are the President de Senegal, Abdoulaye Wade, and the Lehendakari (President) of the Basque Government, Juan José Ibarretxe, as well as the mayors of several cities in the world, such as París (Bertrand Delanöe), Bilbao (Iñaki Azkuna), Sao Paulo (José Serra), Pretoria (Smangaliso Mkhatshwa), Quito (Paco Moncayo) and Tunis (Abbés Mohsen), among others. The Bilbao Summit expects to attract more than 2,000 regional representatives from all over the world. Its promoters, the UN and the Basque Government, consider that local authorities are the public institutions which can best fight against the digital divide, which is threatening to condemn thousands of persons worldwide to illiteracy with regard to new information technologies.
The use of communication tools such as Internet is a universal right, and the cultural and economic possibilities offered must be within the reach of all citizens on all five continents.