India, UK agree to deepen cooperation between cyber agencies

During the meeting, the officials of India and the UK held discussions on topics, including cyber threat assessment, internet governance, data protection, protection of critical infrastructure, capacity building and cooperation in multilateral forums, according to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) press release.

Amit A Shukla, Joint Secretary, Cyber Diplomacy Division, Ministry of External Affairs of India (MEA) and Kat Jones, Head of Strategy and Engagement, Cyber Policy Department, The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) of the UK chaired the India-UK co-chaired the Sixth Cyber Dialogue.

In a press release, MEA stated, "Discussions during the Dialogue included cyber threat assessment, internet governance, data protection, protection of critical infrastructure, capacity building and cooperation in multilateral fora, including the latest developments in the cyber realm at the United Nations."

"Both sides agreed to deepen cooperation between their respective cyber agencies in order to build a safe and robust cyberspace," it added.

For the meeting, the Indian delegation included officials from the MEA, Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Indian Cybercrime Coordination Center (I4C), Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY), Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), CERT-In and National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (NCIIPC).

The UK delegation included officials from the National Cyber Security Centre, the Cyber Policy Department of the FCDO, and representatives of the Cyber Policy Team of the British High Commission.

Earlier on June 14, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his British counterpart Rishi Sunak expressed satisfaction with the progress made in the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations between the two countries, according to a statement released by the Prime Minister's Office.

PM Modi held a bilateral meeting with UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on the sidelines of the 50th Summit of the Group of Seven (G7) in Apulia, Italy on Friday.

Sunak congratulated PM Modi on his historic third consecutive term and the two world leaders reaffirmed their shared commitment to further strengthen bilateral relations between the countries, according to a statement released by the Prime Minister's Office.

The leaders further discussed the implementation of the Roadmap 2030 and expressed happiness on progress in all areas of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership including regular high-level political consultations, defence and security, trade and economic collaboration, critical and high technology sectors and people-to-people ties.

Moreover, the leaders also discussed regional and multilateral matters of mutual interest, according to a statement released by the Prime Minister's Office.

In a post on X, PM Modi had stated, "It was a delight to meet PM @RishiSunak in Italy. I reiterated my commitment to further strengthen the India-UK Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in the third term of the NDA Government. There is great scope to deepen ties in sectors like semiconductors, technology and trade. We also talked about further cementing ties in the defence sector." (ANI)