17. Recognises the importance of the ‘ICT and tourism’ platform proposed by the Commission but believes that an all-out effort is needed to equip rural areas with up-to-date IT infrastructure (e.g. broadband internet connection services), so that all information necessary for exchanges of best practice can be made available and inter-linked, to provide training in how to use such infrastructure, and to develop multilingual IT resources, e.g. in the framework of the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP), which could facilitate international tourism;

The Commission will make strategic use of relevant EU programmes and initiatives[17] to bring multilingualism closer to the citizen: run awareness-raising campaigns on the benefits of linguistic diversity and language learning for intercultural dialogue monitor citizens’ language skills through the Language Indicators and Eurobarometer surveys together with the Member States, exchange good practices, train and network legal interpreters and translators and develop specific translation tools to access documents in order to improve access to justice The Member States are invited to: make efforts in order to have Points of Single Contact un ...[+++]der the Services Directive working in several languages to facilitate cross-border provision of services facilitate access to targeted courses of the host country's language(s) for non native speakers |

52. Notes the initiative of the Committee of the Regions to set up a network of regions within an interactive platform of local communities aiming to compare and exchange experience acquired while implementing the Lisbon Strategy;

- to establish EU-wide networking of national centres for exchanges of information regarding quality assurance of genetic testing, including training activities, and EU-wide networking for genetic testing of rare diseases.

* We need to network Europe's Biotechnology Communities to facilitate open access to knowledge, skills and best practises, and to create a close community of actors and institutions involved in biotechnology.

A reliable and recognised system of validating knowledge and methods of analysis, control and certification also needs to be put in place and centres of excellence in Europe in the fields concerned networked.