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The EU is confident that the World Summit in Bilbao will find solutions against the digital divide
The European Commissioner for the Information Society, Viviane Reding, encourages the cities and regions of the planet to continue to support the universal right to the use of new communication technologies.
Viviane Reding, European Commissioner for the Information Society and Media, has expressed her confidence that the II World Summit of Cities and Local Authorities on the Information Society, which is to be held in Bilbao from 9 to 11 November next, will find international commitments and solutions concerning the digital divide, which is threatening to condemn thousands of millions of citizens all over the world to electronic illiteracy.
Reding attended the presentation of the Bilbao World Summit at the European Parliament in Strasburg, which has sessions taking place from 5 to 8 September. The European Commissioner encourages cities and regions on all continents, the protagonists of the encounter in the capital of Bizkaia (Biscay), to continue as the driving forces for a society without electronic exclusions, in which everybody can benefit from the advantages created by information technologies. A Plan of Action will emerge from the meeting in Bilbao, to be analysed a few days later at another World Summit in Tunis, this time at the level of States.
At the encounter in Strasburg, the EU representative spoke highly of the efforts of the Basque Country, which, together with the UN, has promoted the Bilbao Summit and other projects against the digital divide, such as the Digital Solidarity Fund, which provides financing for investments in the Third World related with new technologies. The investments carried out in Euskadi follow the guidelines of the EU on issues related with the Information Society, such as electronic trade, education and health, emphasised Reding. The event in Strasburg is being led by a delegation from the Basque Government, made up of Ibon Mendibelzua, Delegate of Euskadi (the Basque Country) in Brussels; Mikel Antón, Director for European Affairs of the Basque Government and Juan José Duque, Deputy General Manager of SPRI.
For the European Commissioner, events such as the Bilbao World Summit strengthen freedom of speech and the fundamental rights of the citizens of the planet, because the Information Society promotes these aspects.
Reding considered that Bilbao, venue of the II World Summit of Cities and Local Authorities on the Information Society, is an example of the benefits obtained by adapting to the new technologies, after leaving behind its past as a declining industrial centre and becoming an international centre for business and services. More than 2,000 representatives of cities and regions from all parts of the world will be present in Bilbao. Moreover, the attendance has been confirmed of the President of Senegal, Abdoulaye Wade, one of the cultural leaders of Africa and the reference in the fight against the digital divide on the continent.