Tokyo: The leaders of the Quad countries during their Summit in Tokyo on Tuesday decided to take a collective approach to enhancing cybersecurity and committed themselves to improve defence of each other’s critical infrastructure.
“In an increasingly digital world with sophisticated cyber threats we recognize an urgent need to take a collective approach to enhancing cybersecurity,” the joint statement issued after the Summit read.
The statement added that in order to deliver on the vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific, the Quad nations will work together to improve the defense of each other’s critical infrastructure.
“We commit to improving the defense of our nations’ critical infrastructure by sharing threat information, identifying and evaluating potential risks in supply chains for digitally enabled products and services, and aligning baseline software security standards for government procurement, leveraging our collective purchasing power to improve the broader software development ecosystem so that all users can benefit,” it said.
The Quad partners will coordinate capacity building programs in the Indo-Pacific region under the Quad Cybersecurity Partnership, and will initiate the first-ever Quad Cybersecurity Day to help individual internet users across our nations, the Indo-Pacific region, and beyond to better protect themselves from cyber threats.
The Quad remains focused on harnessing critical and emerging technologies to enhance the prosperity and security of the region.
“In the area of 5G and beyond 5G, while welcoming the Prague Proposals on Telecommunications Supplier Diversity, we will advance interoperability and security through the signature of a new Memorandum of Cooperation on 5G Supplier Diversification and Open RAN,” the joint statement read.
We are also deepening our engagement with industry, including through Open RAN Track 1.5 events, and exploring ways to collaborate on the deployment of open and secure telecommunications technologies in the region, it added.
The Quad leaders announced that they will convene a business and investment forum for networking with industry partners to expand capital for critical and emerging technologies.
