Indo-French Bilateral Cyber Dialogue (Paris, 20 June 2019)

The third Indo-French cyber dialogue was held in Paris on Thursday, 20th June, 2019.

This intergovernmental meeting was co-chaired by Mr Henri Verdier, French Ambassador for Digital affairs, and Shri Upender Singh Rawat, Joint Secretary in charge of e-Governance, Information Technology and Cyber Diplomacy at the Indian Ministry of External Affairs.

During this dialogue, both parties shared their threat analysis and presented the latest developments in their respective cyber policies and steps taken for protection of critical national infrastructure. They also exchanged views on the ongoing discussions and initiatives in multilateral forums related to peace and security in cyberspace, as well as the related issues of digital sovereignty and Internet governance. They have also identified the areas for deepening their cooperation in these domains.

France and India reaffirmed their commitment to an open, reliable, secure, stable and peaceful cyberspace and recalled in particular the applicability in cyberspace of existing principles of international law, including the United Nations Charter in its entirety and that there was a need to continue and deepen deliberations on the applicability of international law and set norms of responsible behaviour of states. They emphasised their commitment to a multi-stakeholder approach to Internet governance.

They also exchanged views on fight against cybercrime and the use of the Internet for terrorist purposes.

They intend to strengthen the coordination of their efforts in support of the implementation of voluntary and non-binding norms of responsible behaviour, as well as confidence-building and capacity-building measures in cyberspace. France and India will maintain a continuous dialogue on cybersecurity in order to address their shared concerns. Under their framework of counter-terrorism cooperation, they will also continue their exchanges to fight against the use of the Internet for terrorist purposes and online radicalisation, as illustrated in their joint support to the Christchurch Call to Action.

France and India finally welcome the forthcoming G7 summit under the French presidency, to which India will be associated, and the visit, on this occasion, of the Indian Prime Minister to France, will further enable their cooperation on cyber issues to reach another milestone.

France and India will hold the fourth Indo-French cyber dialogue in India.