The inaugural Australia-India Joint Working Group on Information Communications Technologies (ICT) took place in Canberra on 5 July, co-hosted by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications (DITRDC).
The Joint Working Group brings together information and telecommunications technology officials and business representatives from Australia and India to discuss innovation and shared challenges in network security.
The working group was attended by representatives from Cyber Affairs and Critical Technology and International Telecommunications officials from DFAT, PM&C, Home Affairs and DITRDC and a delegation from across the Indian Government led by Mrs Muanpuii Saiawi, Joint Secretary from India’s Ministry of External Affairs.
The University of Sydney and UNSW joined the meeting to present on their Australia-India Cyber and Critical Technology Partnership grant: Next Generation Telecom Networks: Privacy and Security Challenges, Regularity Interventions and Policy Framework; and Industry groups gave presentations on their experiences in Australia.
The inaugural meeting led to fruitful discussions about the what the working groups purpose would be and with constructive input from Academia and Australian-Indian Businesses such as Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, and HCL, as well as Australian business CyberCX.
The Australia-India Joint Working Group on ICT is an outcome of Australia and India’s Framework Arrangement on Cyber and Cyber-Enabled Critical Technology Cooperation which aims to enhance Australia and India’s bilateral cooperation on cyber and critical technology issues.
More information on the Australia-India Framework Arrangement on Cyber and Cyber-Enabled Critical Technology Cooperation and the AICCTP grants can be found here.