India and Japan reaffirm their commitment towards a secure and accessible cyberspace

India and Japan have reaffirmed their commitment to a secure and accessible cyberspace during the Second India-Japan Cyber Dialogue held here on Thursday, the External Affairs Ministry said in a statement on Friday.

Representational image. Reuters

"Japan and India reaffirmed their commitment to an open, free, secure, stable, peaceful and accessible cyberspace, enabling economic growth and innovation," the statement said.

"In particular, both sides reaffirmed that existing international law is generally applicable in cyberspace and that no country should conduct or 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 sector," it stated.

According to the statement, the areas of discussion included domestic cyber policy landscape, cyber threats and mitigation, mechanism on bilateral cooperation and possible cooperation at various international and regional fora.

The Indian delegation also made a presentation on the 5th Global Conference on Cyber Space to be held in New Delhi on 23-24 November this year.

"Both sides shared the view that they will deepen the dialogues at various levels including through the Japan-India Cyber Dialogue," the statement said.

The Indian side comprised representatives from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Ministry of Home Affairs, National Security Council Secretariat, Central Bureau of Investigation, Department of Telecommunication, National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre and the National Investigation Agency and was led by Sanjay Kumar Verma, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs.

The Japanese delegation was led Masato Otaka, Ambassador in-charge of Cyber Policy and Deputy Director General of Foreign Policy Bureau in Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and included representatives from National Center of Incident Readiness and Strategy for Cybersecurity, Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office and the National Police Agency.