UN Welcomes Efforts On Information Technologies Cooperation - Disarmament Envoy

The United Nations is welcoming efforts by member states to build comprehensive international cooperation on the safe use of information and communication technologies (ICTs), UN Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Izumi Nakamitsu told Sputnik

GENOA (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 29th September, 2020) The United Nations is welcoming efforts by member states to build comprehensive international cooperation on the safe use of information and communication technologies (ICTs), UN Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Izumi Nakamitsu told Sputnik.

On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced an initiative to strengthen international information security. In particular, the president invited the United States to agree on a comprehensive program to reboot bilateral relations in the digital security area. Putin also called on all countries to reach a global agreement on a political commitment on no-first-strike with the use of ICTs against each other.

"I welcome serious efforts towards engagement and cooperation between and amongst UN Member States, including in the area of information and communication technologies (ICTs). As the world increasingly depends on ICTs, we need to all work together to promote an open, secure, stable, accessible and peaceful ICT environment," Nakamitsu said, when asked to comment on the initiative.

The high representative for disarmament noted that the United Nations provided a platform for all states to address the issue of ICTs' use collectively and that two UN processes � an Open-ended Working Group and a Group of Governmental Experts � were established for this purpose in 2018.

"In fact, developments in the field of information and telecommunications ICTs in the context of international security has been on the UN agenda since the Russian Federation first introduced a draft resolution in 1998 on the subject in the First Committee of the General Assembly. It was adopted without a vote by the General Assembly as resolution 53/70," Nakamitsu said.

In his new initiative, Putin proposed to the United States joint efforts in developing and concluding an agreement on preventing incidents in the information domain, similarly to the Soviet-US Agreement on the Prevention of Incidents On and Over the High Seas of 1972.

"We at the UN Secretariat remain fully committed to supporting efforts by member states, as well as other stakeholders, in this important work," Nakamitsu said.

Russia has for years advocated for a comprehensive international treaty on cybersecurity on various platforms, including the United Nations. Last year, the organization passed a Russian-sponsored resolution on countering cybercrime, which was also backed by China and Iran, among other nations.