Building on the substantial work achieved within the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), the African Union (AU), and the Organisation of American States (OAS), the European External Action Service (EEAS) and EU Cyber Direct jointly organised a one-day side event on the regional development and implementation of Confidence Building Measure (CBMs), in the margins of the latest OSCEs Informal Working Group meeting on the 8th of November 2023 in Vienna, Austria.
In the face of malicious cyber activities growing in number and sophistication, international cooperation on cybersecurity has become paramount. CBMs serve as crucial tools to foster collaboration and transparency, increase the predictability of state behaviour in cyberspace and reduce the risks of conflict stemming from the use of information and communications technologies (ICT).
The event comprised two key panels: Participants had the opportunity to exchange views on successes, best practices, and challenges in the development and implementation of CBMs, explore the complementarity of national, regional, and global measures and assess how synergies could strategically be aligned to further support the UN framework for responsible state behaviour in cyberspace. Moreover, the event facilitated the identification of links-between capacity building initiatives and CBMs. Participants gained valuable insights into related initiatives, identified gaps and needs, exchanged common interest, and explored ways to maximise the impact of potential overlapping initiatives by collaboration or planning joint activities.
