Iñaki Azkuna, Mayor of the Basque city of Bilbao, was named as the best mayor in the World by British Foundation for City Mayors. Azkuna was chosen as World Mayor 2012 out of 900 candidates, for the “transformation from a declining industrial city in Spain’s northern Basque Province to an international centre for tourism and the arts”, along with his economic management of Bilbao, despite the economic crisis.