Today, like other peoples, the Basque Country is immersed in a process of transition from an industrial society to a new model in the shape of the Information Society. This new society implies a series of radical transformations bringing extremely profound technological, economic, social and political changes to the way we think, work, act and live.

The end of last century therefore saw the appearance in the European Union of various political proposals on the basis of which to develop the Information Society while bringing it closer to citizens. Almost exactly at the same time as the e-Europe project, the Basque Government launched a first crash programme with its "Euskadi 2000Tres", que ha servido como catalizador de la necesaria reacción y adaptación por parte de la sociedad vasca a la nueva realidad en el ámbito educativo, empresarial, el de la administración o el de los hogares, y cuyos resultados pusieron a Euskadi en cabeza de muchos indicadores, como por ejemplo, el relativo al grado de penetración de Internet dentro de nuestra sociedad.

Achievements obtained in this first stage led to progress in this respect and to subsequent approval by the Basque Government of the "Basque Country in the Information Society Plan" establishing a series of actions "adapting Basque society to the new digital era, favouring cultural change and placing new technologies at the service of everyone in order to achieve improved quality of life and social balance while generating value and wealth in our economy", in what is taking shape as the "second important economic transformation of the Basque Country"

The references taken by the Plan are average European parameters indicating the first goals to be met, without in the medium- and long-term losing its position as one of the most advanced countries in the European Union in this respect, given its aspiration of belonging to the state-of-the-art nucleus of the European Information Society.

The Plan therefore encompasses a series of actions to be taken in different areas, one of which is "Euskadi en la Red" ("Euskadi on the Web"). The aim of this action is to boost the image of the Basque Country both inside and outside of its borders by projecting the idea of a country which, while maintaining its identity, reaches out towards the world, advocating a love of its values, including culture, creativity and knowledge, in order to become an attractive option within the Information Society framework. Not only is this an endeavour to achieve a privileged position in the digital world, but it is also an attempt to humanise the new social space, or in other words, to guarantee universality of access, training of the entire population, multilingualism, development of the new economy, the promotion of identity. The Basque Country therefore reaffirms its stance as a people cooperating in and committed to the development of regions with difficulties, which participates in the problems of other peoples and develops initiatives drawn from new technologies, new ways of collaborating.

As a result of this commitment, in February 2003 and in Bilbao, Lehendakari Ibarretxe signed an agreement with the Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and the Director General of the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) on collaboration between the Basque Government and the said Institution with respect to the Information Society. The aim of this agreement is to achieve the triple objective of defining the "role to be played by regional governments throughout the world in promoting access by all people to Information Society benefits", of establishing "real and effective co-operation in this respect between regional governments throughout the world…" and of "participating in the United Nations programme for training local agents in the Information Society".

 his commitment resulted in creation by the Basque public institutions of the International Training Centre for Local Authorities/Actors "CIFAL Bilbao " intended to meet the undertakings acquired with UNITAR, and to development of the Network of Local Authorities for the Information Society, IT4ALL.

This Network, representing over 1,677 million citizens throughout the world, seeks to guarantee effective cooperation between local authorities the world over (cities, regions and local governments) with a view to permitting access to the Information Society by everyone, favouring e-inclusion and decentralised digital cooperation policies.

Its principle lines of action are as follows:

• Identification of potential cooperation projects capable of having high impact on development of the Information Society and of being applied to as many regions as possible.  
•  Design and dissemination of a reference model based on the good practices of local authorities serving as guidelines on the basis of which to diagnose and plan local strategies of adaptation to the Information Society (Local Digital Agendas). 
•  The setting in motion of training activities contributing to making local authorities aware and capable of introducing the Information Society.
• Backing of the obtaining of funding for Information Society development projects in less developed cities and regions.
  

As a result of this cooperation, in November 2005, Bilbao hosted the "2nd World Summit of Cities and Local Authorities on the Information Society" ,backing the actions taken by local authorities the world over, headed by United Cities and Local Governments, UNITAR and the Basque Government (through CIFAL Bilbao and the IT4ALL Network)..

The successful Bilbao Summit ended with three major achievements:

• Local Authorities were able to contribute to the setting in motion of a World Agreement in favour of Digital Solidarity, in addition to adopting a declaration of principles (the Bilbao Decalogue) and several lines of action to be followed in the future.
• The part played by local authorities as decisive political agents in progressing towards an Information Society for everyone was recognised and applauded.
• The Secretary-General of the United Nations was asked to consider the Bilbao Decalogue and the plan of action in order to establish them as guidelines for local, national and international public policies. A proposal was also made to the Secretary-General that he attach the Bilbao Declaration and Plan of Action to State undertakings with a view to these elements jointly constituting the new reference framework for local, national and international public policies