in consultation with those most affected, to ensure equal and effective protection of the property and other rights of national minorities in development and infrastructure initiatives, including the exploitation of local resources, land and property. 28. Regions where national minorities are concentrated should receive appropriate funding in terms of infrastructure, such as electricity, communications networks, roads, water management and transport services, to enable persons belonging to national minorities to effectively participate equally and without discrimination in social and economic activities. Regional inequalities can manifest themselves in poor quality or no access to power, communications infrastructure (including the infrastructure that supports digital communications), road and transport services. These deficiencies in turn may isolate, effectively exclude or seriously disadvantage minorities and populations concentrated in these regions and significantly hamper their degree of social and economic participation; for example, by making it difficult to travel for work purposes or efficiently conduct business activities. Persons belonging to national minorities in certain regions may lack reliable or high-speed internet connections to ensure their equal digital inclusion in society, undertake financial transactions or use digital communication tools as effectively as others who live in more well-serviced regions.155 Full and effective equality for persons belonging to national minorities requires funding to be provided as needed and in consultation with minorities, as well as other measures to address past or continuing obstacles to social and economic participation presented by infrastructure deficiencies or inadequacies in regions where minorities are concentrated. State investment in improvements to the infrastructure in regions where national minorities are concentrated can help minorities to participate in social and economic life on an equal footing, better connect these regions to the rest of the country, create new economic opportunities and contribute to overall development efforts that will ultimately benefit the whole of society. 155 See also Recommendations 22–24 in this document. 58 Recommendations on the Effective Participation of National Minorities in Social and Economic Life