>>   Global Business Dialogue on Electronic Commerce

Visit the Web Site		 The Global Business Dialogue on electronic Commerce (GBDe) is a CEO-driven initiative composed of the world’s leading enterprises and economic organizations, working together for the development of a global online economy.

The co-operation with the Global Cities Dialogue, consolidated through a Cooperation Agreement signed on 25 April 2001, concerns the field of eGovernment and the fight against the Digital Divide. GBDe is represented as an observer in the GCD-Steering Committee.

As agreed within the last Steering Committee Meeting in Prague, GCD has been actively involved in the elaboration of the GBDe-Recommendations on e-Government 2005, that will be officially presented during the Annual Summit of GBDe.

For further information about the GBDe, please visit www.gbde.org.
>>   The European Knowledge Society Forum - TeleCities

Visit the Web Site		 The European Knowledge Society Forum - TeleCities is a network of cities and local authorities working together in the area of new information and communication technologies at a European level. The main objective of the network is to promote a common understanding of the benefits brought by online-services and tools and of the citizens’ needs in the era of the Information Society.

TeleCities has actively supported the GCD since its inception. In order to consolidate the co-operation between the two networks, GCD-members are invited to involve themselves more actively in those TeleCities’ working groups matching their specific interests. This kind of integrated co-operation should be realized within the common topics of interoperability, broadband, e-Health, e-Inclusion, e-Citizenship.

According to the GCD Action Plan 2005 – 2006, the co-operation with TeleCities is mainly based on the cross-promotion of the respective activities, as well as on the benchmarking of best-practices in the field of the Information Society at local and European level, with particular attention to the new EU-member cities from Central and Eastern Europe.
TeleCities has been granted with the status of observer member within the GCD-Steering Committee.

For further information, please visit the official web site: http://www.eurocities.org.
>>   RED Iberoamericana de Ciudades Digitales

Visit the Web Site		 Initiated by AHCIET, a private non-profit association of Latin American telecom companies, the Iberoamerican Network of Digital Cities supports the efforts of Iberoamerican cities on their way to the Information Society.

RED aims to provide a platform for mutual learning, knowledge-transfer and best-practice exchange in the IT-field, facilitating a public-private sector dialogue to create a favourable political environment for the implementation of local e-government strategies.

The partnership with GCD was formalized on the occasion of the 5th General Assembly Meeting of GCD on 4 November 2004 in Miraflores (Lima, Peru) and will result mainly from the cross-promotion of the respective initiatives and events, as well as from the realization of co-operation projects among the respective members.


RED has also been granted with a seat as observer member within the GCD-Steering Committee.

For further information, please visit: www.iberomunicipios.org.
>>   IT4ALL Network of Local Authorities on the Information Society

Visit the Web Site		 IT4ALL is a worldwide network of local authorities fostering mechanisms of co-operation and promoting the exchange of best practices between cities and regions on the themes relating to the Information Society. The main objective of the IT4ALL is to achieve a common position of local authorities worldwide around the themes of the Information Society and defend this position within the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). The technical secretariat of the IT4ALL Network is based in Bilbao (CIFAL Bilbao) and will be directly involved in the organization of the II World Summit of Local Authorities on the Information Society.

The co-operation between GCD and IT4ALL should build on the exchange of experiences and best practices among the respective networks' members as well as on the implementation of joint actions for the achievement of common objectives. A co-operation agreement between the two networks was signed on the occasion of the 5th General Assembly Meeting of GCD on 4 November in Miraflores (Peru).


As official partner of GCD, IT4ALL is also observer member of the GCD-Steering Committee.

For further information please visit: http://www.it4all-regions.org.
>>   URB-AL Network 13 “Towns and the Information Society”

Visit the Web Site

 The City of Bremen has been selected by the European Commission to co-ordinate the Thematic Network N°13 "Towns and the Information Society" in the framework of the second phase of the URB-AL programme.

The principal aim of the network is to establish a long-lasting co-operation between European and Latin American cities and local authorities in the field of the Information Society. Furthermore new forms of governance and partnerships between local authorities, private companies and civil society in these regions should be fostered.

Similar to the Global Cities Dialogue, the URB-AL Network 13 will provide a platform for the identification of common problems and the exchange of knowledge and “eSolutions”.

Joint projects shall be developed to improve the use of the new information and communication technologies in fields of public interest.

For further information please visit www.bremen.de/urb-al
>>   Worldwide Forum on e-Democracy

Visit the Web Site 		Initiated in 2000 by the city of Issy-les-Moulineaux under the patronage of Jacques Chirac, President of France the Worldwide Forum on Electronic Democracy has become a regular opportunity for examining and discussing the major IT developments concerning city life and city administration. The Forum's goal is to provide an international platform for exchange, bringing together key-actors at the institutional level as well as IT-experts, representatives of the media and members of the most relevant European and global networks operating in the field of e-government and e-democracy.

The Forum’s originality and added value lie in its ability to share information on a truly international scale, thanks to the annual presence of about 1,500 participants from more than 30 countries. The Global Cities Dialogue, represented by its Chairman, Mr. André Santini, Mayor of Issy-les-Moulineaux, is an institutional partner of this Forum.

The 6th edition is planned to take place on 28 - 29 September 2005 and will focus on the dialogue between Brazilian and European communities on the themes of e-democracy.

Further information are available on the following web site: www.forum-edemo.org
>>   VIVICOM

Visit the Web Site		 VIVICOM is one of the leading companies in the video conferencing field. It provides high quality services in order to assist business and private international communication and networking. With VIVICOM software, you communicate with your colleagues or customers all around the globe. They see themselves, hear themselves and concertedly process your documents online without leaving their office! There with you particularly save on travel expenses and time.

VIVICOM offers Video-Web conference software and the products are optimally tuned on it. The VIVICOM products are based on innovative software technology, which allows unifying the three most important ways of communication.

For further information about the VIVICOM, please visit www.vivicom.de

>>   Stockholm Challenge Awards

Visit the Web Site		 The Stockholm Challenge is an international awards programme for projects using information technology in pioneering ways. The Stockholm Challenge focuses on the positive effects of today’s information society, technology itself is not the issue.

The mission of the Stockholm Challenge is to create a platform for exchange of ideas and experiences in a democratic and open way, and to showcase best practice within the field of IT. The aim is to contribute to diminishing the digital divide and create an information society for all.

The Stockholm Challenge – first called the Bangemann Challenge – was initiated by the City of Stockholm in 1994. The awards programme runs yearly and is open to implemented projects from private, public and academic sectors.

For further information, please visit: www.challenge.stockholm.se