Literary translation is an invaluable tool for linguistic and cultural diversification within the international publishing market. Currently in the world there are some one hundred public and private organisations, mainly European, whose aim is to promote literary translation. In order to facilitate the circulation of translated literary texts throughout the NTI (New information technologies), several types of intervention are now possible. The internet may on the one hand provide support to traditional publishing, and on the other hand replace it through the direct supply of literary texts.

It is in this context that UNESCO, through its Centre for the Exchange of Information on Literary Translation, asked FILI - Finnish Literatue Information Centre to organise an international seminar, bringing together, as a means of contributing to the action plan for the world summit on the information society, some fifty specialists in order to discuss the possibilities of the internet in the promotion of forms of support and literary translation.

With the foundations having been laid by a virtual forum starting on April the 15th 2005, the conference took place in Helsinki on the 20th and 21st May 2005 and made it possible to set up a network of cooperation which is truly international and representative of different strategic and operational approaches.