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News

Bilbao becomes one of the symbols of the Millenium Declaration, whose spirit is united to the World Summit in november

On 1st July, the city of Bilbao celebrated the membership of the Basque Country to the Broadband Campaign, which is the expressive statement of the Millennium Declaration 2015. The commitment of 189 Heads of State and Government to overcome the inequalities between poor and rich countries is related to the spirit of the World Summit which the capital of Bizkaia will welcome next November, given that the aim of this meeting is to overcome the digital divide which leaves the most discriminated citizens of the planet out of the advantages provided by Internet.

The President of the Basque Government, Juan José Ibarretxe, and the UN representative in Spain, Carlos Jiménez-Renjifo, placed a white band around the Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao. This symbolic act was simultaneously repeated on other emblematic buildings across the world, such as the Coliseum (Rome - Italy), the Brandenburg Gate (Berlin - Germany), the Trocadero’s Buildings (Paris) and the Slave Gate on Goree Island (Senegal).

The UN and the Basque Government are the key promoters of the II World Summit of Cities and Local Authorities on the Information Society which will be held on 9th -11th November in Bilbao.

Both the Bilbao World Summit and the Millennium Declaration seek egalitarian development without exclusion for all areas of the planet.

Furthermore, the headquarters of CIFAL Bilbao, a training centre in information technology for regional authorities of the whole planet, is near to the capital of Bizkaia. The Basque Country maintains a clear bid for the development of the Information Society. With an investment plan of 563 million euros for the period 2003-2006, the Basque Country has already succeeded in ensuring that more than half of its two million inhabitants have access to Internet from their homes, and has promoted e-commerce among companies, as well as other professional activities related to the Network.

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