Washington: Emphasising that cyberspace enables economic growth and development, India and the United States on Tuesday reaffirmed their commitment to an open, interoperable, secure, and reliable Internet, underpinned by the multistakeholder model of Internet governance.
In a joint statement issued after the third major bilateral summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Barack Obama, the two leaders committed to deepen cooperation on cybersecurity and welcomed the understanding reached to finalise the framework for the U.S.-India Cyber Relationship in the near term.
They committed to enhance cyber collaboration on critical infrastructure, cybercrime, and malicious cyber activity by state and non-state actors, capacity building, and cybersecurity research and development, and to continue discussions on all aspects of trade in technology and related services, including market access.
Both countries have committed to continue dialogue and engagement in Internet governance fora, including in ICANN, IGF and other venues, and to support active participation by all stakeholders of the two countries in these fora.
The leaders committed to promote stability in cyberspace based on the applicability of international law, including the United Nations Charter, the promotion of voluntary norms of responsible state behaviour during peacetime, and the development and implementation of practical confidence building measures between states.
In this context, they affirmed their commitment to the voluntary norms that no country should conduct or knowingly support online activity that intentionally damages critical infrastructure or otherwise impairs the use of it to provide services to the public; that no country should conduct or knowingly support activity intended to prevent national computer security incident response teams from responding to cyber incidents, or use its own teams to enable online activity that is intended to do harm; that every country should cooperate, consistent with its domestic law and international obligations, with requests for assistance from other states in mitigating malicious cyber activity emanating from its territory; and that no country should conduct or knowingly support ICT-enabled theft of intellectual property, including trade secrets or other confidential business information, with the intent of providing competitive advantages to its companies or commercial sectors.
Shared principles for the U.S-India cyber relationship include – commitment to an open, interoperable, secure, and reliable cyberspace environment; to promote the Internet as an engine for innovation, economic growth, and trade and commerce; commitment to promote the free flow of information; a commitment to promote cooperation between and among the private sector and government authorities on cybercrime and cybersecurity; a recognition of the importance of bilateral and international cooperation for combating cyber threats and promoting cybersecurity; and a commitment to respect cultural and linguistic diversity among others. (ANI)