In March 2000, the European Council in Lisbon, proposed initiative "eEurope", and set goal for making the European Union (EU) the world's most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy where each citizen will have access to new information communication technologies. Most of European countries are already following this initiative and Lithuania, an EU member, is not an exception. In the Lithuania that has about 23 000 small villages and where 33 percent (2007) of the population lives in rural areas, RIAPs are one of the most important source of access to the global information society. Development of RIAPs network is a project with the aim to set up and provide computer services and Internet access mostly to small communities in rural and remote areas of Lithuania. During 2007-2008, 400 public internet access points will be opened to Lithuanian people in rural areas. The project "Development of Rural Internet Access Points Network" is financed by EU Structural funds and Lithuanian government and is implemented by the Ministry of Interior. This initiative is generating new IT knowledge influencing the development of economics, social life, education and decrease of unemployment in rural areas. After implementation of the project in 2008 Lithuania will have the biggest number (875) of established RIAPs (considering population density) in EU.
Rural Internet Access Points in Lithuania (RIAPs-2)
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