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News

Cities and regions setting up channels for direct cooperation at Bilbao World Summit on digital divide

The second day of the global e-solidarity Summit saw the thematic workshops get under way. The topics of today’s seven meetings include e-health, infrastructures and free software.

The 2nd World Summit of Cities and Local Authorities on the Information Society is in full swing with more than 2,000 mayors and local leaders from five continents making their contributions to bridging the digital divide. These efforts will lead to the drafting of a plan of action to be forwarded to the heads of state, who will shortly be assembling in Tunis for another world summit on the Information Society.

The mayors of Bilbao and Tunis, the two cities upon whom the eyes of the global IT industry are fixed this month, today exchanged their experiences in digital solidarity at one of the many meetings that local leaders from all over the world will hold over the next few days at the Summit.

Iñaki Azkuna, the Mayor of Bilbao, and Abbés Mohsen, his counterpart in Tunis, both agreed that the cities and regions must search for ways of cooperating directly, without intermediaries, to wage a more effective fight against the digital divide, which is preventing billions of people around the world from accessing the information technologies.

Azkuna pointed out in his speech at the Summit that thanks to the new technologies, governments had never had so much information at their disposal as now: “We must tap into this potential to move closer to citizens and to help other local authorities less well-off than ourselves.” Azkuna continued by saying that the city of Bilbao was “exceptionally advanced” in terms of using new information technologies as over half its shops and 86% of its companies used the Internet on a daily basis and through ADSL connections. Furthermore, 50% of companies had their own website. Azkuna also drew attention to the technological assistance being provided by centres located in the province of Bizkaia, such as CIFAL Bilbao and the European Software Institute. As regards Bilbao City Council, 75% of its employees use ITs on a regular basis.

The Mayor of Bilbao concluded with his message for the Summit: “e-solidarity is absolutely essential. We cannot coexist on Earth while the most disadvantaged are suffering social injustices. Our city council donates 0.7% of its budget to promoting development in the Third World, and we will shortly be implementing an information technology support plan for local authorities.”

For his part, the Mayor of Tunis, Abbés Mohsen, outlined the Tunisian capital’s plans to combat the digital divide, which is generating inequality both in rural areas denied access to the Internet and also in the cities, due to social inequalities between suburbs. Mohsen explained that Tunis City Council was firmly committed to the Internet as it improved administrative procedures helping it build a closer relationship with its citizens. Tunis has helped over 4,000 low-income families enter the world of the Internet, and has encouraged its use among the young in nurseries and schools alike. It has also set up special Internet centres for the city’s teenagers. Mohsen analysed the role Tunis is playing in joint e-plans with other African cities and with the International Association of Francophone Mayors. The Tunisian capital also takes part in international forums where it can glean and provide ideas on e-solidarity.

Both Azkuna and Mohsen agreed that it was vital, first of all, to give the citizens of the world decent living conditions before then improving their well-being through the use of information technologies.

The leaders of other cities around the world also took part in the session including Desmond McKenzie, the Mayor of Kingston and St. Andrew (Jamaica), Hugues Martin, the Mayor of Bordeaux (France) and Enrique Doger, the Mayor of Puebla (Mexico). The meeting was chaired by Prema Cariappa, ex-Mayor of the city of Bangalore (India)

The Regions

Before the city session, it was the turn of the regions to air their views. The Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament, George Reid, spoke on behalf of his country along with his Basque counterpart, Izaskun Bilbao, and Sheila Dikshit, the president of the region of Delhi (India). Representatives from Peru, Senegal, the Independent Republic of Georgia and the Provincial Government of Jakarta (Indonesia) also spoke at the regional session.

The 2nd World Summit of Cities and Local Authorities on the Information Society today raised the curtain on its thematic workshops in which local leaders from all over the planet are taking part. The conclusions from these meetings will be conveyed to the plenary of the Summit for their inclusion in the resulting plan of action on the digital divide. The plan itself will then be presented to the heads of state gathering in Tunis later this month. Canada’s Robert Guerra is charged with the task of recording the views expressed at the workshops on infrastructures and free software. The key issues of these workshops are as follows: On the issue of whether investment will come from governments or local authorities the question is what can be done and how can it be funded? Two other issues to be discussed are e-health and e-democracy.

The infrastructures workshop will feature contributions from Christine Leurquin, a specialist on the European satellite industry, and John Mocho, director of the Dar es Salaam city council office in Tanzania and well versed in the difficulties attached to generating IT investment for the Third World. Brazilian delegates will have the floor in the free software workshop. Brazil is one of the world’s pioneers in providing easy-to-access, not to mention, free technology for its poorer citizens. Sergio Amadeu, one of the Brazilian government’s driving forces behind free software, will today give his views along with fellow countryman Marcelo D’ Elia Branco, one of the world’s free-software gurus and the leader of the movement in Brazil.

Local associations and networks have also had the opportunity to make their voices heard today. Under the auspices of UNITAR, the UN’s development agency, representatives from UCLG, the largest organisation of cities and regions in the world, met up with the leaders of local Latin American authorities belonging to FLACMA. Also present were regional leaders from Asia-Oceania (with Arab cities well represented) and Europe, among other continents. Vincenzo Vita, of the Union of Italian Provinces (UPI), expressed his ideas on ways of funding new information technology projects.