Community financial contributions to the development of Gipuzkoa that have been man-aged by the Diputación Foral have had the main objective of redirecting the risk of eco-nomic decline by fomenting the competitiveness of firms, training the active population and boosting research, technology and innovation with an view to creating employment and revitalising the economic tissue of the Territory. They also place a high strategic value on infrastructures for transportation, communications and environment. These as-pects had been greatly lacking in Gipuzkoa to the degree that they were linked both to quality of life of the inhabitants and the competitiveness of the Territory.
These general action lines are likewise patent in local and urban development projects that bring a wide range of actions to bear on urban zones that are particularly affected by industrial decline. This, the application of the whole set of mentioned funds up to now in Gipuzkoa that allows for a highly positive assessment of the effects of Community Re-gional Policy on this Historical Territory, has been carried out in terms of the following priority axes.(*)

( * )They have been grouped to permit the integration of all the action programmes developed between 1986 - 99