Following India’s splash in the global internet governance scene with the statement made by the Hon’ble IT Minister at ICANN53, the recently held 4th United States – India Cyber Dialogue is yet another key event in India’s internet governance landscape.

India and the United States have committed to strengthen their cooperation on “a range of cyber issues including cyber threats, enhanced security information sharing, cyber incident management, cybersecurity cooperation in the context of Make in India, efforts to combat cybercrime, Internet governance issues, and norms of behaviour in cyberspace”.

The following is the text of the Joint Statement:

“To increase global cybersecurity and promote the digital economy, the United States and India have committed to robust cooperation on cyber issues. To that end, the United States and India met at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, DC on August 11 and 12 for the 2015 US-India Cyber Dialogue.

The whole-of-government Cyber Dialogue, fourth in the series, was led by the U.S. Cybersecurity Coordinator and Special Assistant to the President Michael Daniel and by India’s Deputy National Security Advisor Arvind Gupta. The Department of State Coordinator for Cyber Issues Christopher Painter and the Ministry of External Affairs Joint Secretary for Policy Planning, Counterterrorism, and Global Cyber Issues Santosh Jha co-hosted the Dialogue. U.S. whole-of-government participation included the Departments of State, Justice, Homeland Security, Treasury, and Commerce. The Indian government was represented by the National Cyber Security Coordinator at the National Security Council Secretariat, the Ministry of External Affairs, the Ministry of Home Affairs, and the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology.

The delegations discussed a range of cyber issues including cyber threats, enhanced cybersecurity information sharing, cyber incident management, cybersecurity cooperation in the context of ‘Make in India’, efforts to combat cybercrime, Internet governance issues, and norms of state behavior in cyberspace.

The two delegations identified a variety of opportunities for increased collaboration on cyber security capacity-building, cyber security research and development, combatting cybercrime, international security, and Internet governance, and intend to pursue an array of follow-on activities to bolster their cyber security partnership and achieve concrete outcomes.

In addition to the formal Dialogue, the delegations met with representatives from the private sector to discuss issues related to cybersecurity and the digital economy. The Indian delegation also met with Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Lisa Monaco.

The two countries decided to hold the next round of the Cyber Dialogue in Delhi in 2016.”

With India’s vision to transform the country into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy through the Digital India programme, the support of strong cybersecurity infrastructure becomes essential. Bilateral, multilateral and multi-sectoral cooperation in this area will be a space to watch out for.

Original author: gangeshsvarma