Foreign Secretary to host International Cyber Conference

New Zealand is one of the nations that has been invited to a conference on Cyberspace in London.

The Foreign Secretary today announced that he would host the conference on on 1 and 2 November. This follows his commitment in his February speech on “Security and freedom in the cyber age - seeking the rules of the road” that the UK “ is prepared to host an international conference later this year to discuss norms of acceptable behaviour in cyberspace”.

Announcing the details of the conference, the Foreign Secretary said:

“I am inviting governments, international organisations, NGOs and businesses from across the world to a conference in London in November. We have a shared responsibility to address the challenges presented by the networked world including cyber crime that threatens individuals, companies, and governments. It is vital that cyberspace remains a safe and trusted environment in which to operate. This can only be done effectively through international cooperation, engaging both the public and private sectors. Together I hope that we can begin to build the broadest possible international consensus on how to realise the enormous economic and social benefits the Internet offers. It is crucial that we start a focused dialogue now”.

The conference will be held at The Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre in London. Over 80 governments and international organisations are being invited.

The International Chamber of Commerce and the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House) will, in partnership with the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, be organising participation from business, academia and civil society from around the world. Members of the public will have the opportunity to express their views on the issues through interactive online fora in the build up to and during the conference.

In his speech at the Munich Security Conference in February the Foreign Secretary suggested that the international community work towards developing “norms of behaviour”, a common understanding of the appropriate roles for governments and others which could carry real political and diplomatic weight and form a basis for international cooperation. As a starting point he proposed seven underlying principles that should underpin these norms and he offered to host a conference to begin a more focused discussion among governments and non-government stakeholders

ENDS

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