India will continue to cooperate with other stakeholders to counter terror funding and misuse of communication technologies by terrorists and criminals, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval said on April 24, 2024. Doval made the remarks while participating in the 12th International Meeting of High Rank Officials for Security Matters in the Russian city of St. Petersburg.
During his intervention at the plenary session, with the theme of Ensuring Information Security in the Polycentric World. Doval underscored India’s policy to use digital technology inclusive economic development, according to a post on the social media platform X by the Indian embassy in Moscow. He emphasised that India shall continue cooperation for countering misuse of information and communication technology by terrorists and criminals, as also for countering terror funding.
In this context, Doval said the proposed UN Convention on Cybercrime will be an important initiative at the global level. Since May 2021, the UN member states have been negotiating a global treaty on cybercrime. If adopted by the UN General Assembly, this will be the first binding UN instrument on a cyber issue.
However, the UN member states have so far been unable to overcome differences on whether the proposed convention on cybercrime should be a traditional treaty or a broader arrangement covering all crimes committed by using information and communication technologies. Doval also backed an international cooperation for an open, stable, reliable and inclusive framework for ensuring information security.
He suggested a roadmap for such cooperation should include stakeholders from government to the private sector, academia, technical communities and civil society and regular institutional dialogues to help develop common understanding on critical issues.
The roadmap should also contain capacity building of like-minded nations through training, awareness programmes and development of security standards and creation of mechanism of cooperation at the domestic and international levels. Doval also held meetings with some counterparts from other countries on the sidelines of the international meeting.
During a meeting with his Myanmar counterpart Admiral Moe Aung, Doval discussed the recent development along the Indian Myanmar Border including issues related to security, refugees and developmental projects. Myanmar Junta is under growing pressure because of a string of successes scored by resistance forces, which have overrun dozens of military bases and captured crucial border trade and crossing points along the frontier with India.
During Doval’s meeting with Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary of the Security Council of Russia, both sides reviewed progress in bilateral cooperation and discussed important issues of mutual interests. Doval also spoke at the luncheon meetings of the NSAs of the BRICS grouping hosted by Patrushev and called for closer cooperation in the fight against terrorism and concrete actions to prevent trans-border planning, funding and execution of terrorist acts.
