The Third Central Asian Internet Governance Forum took place in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, on June 21-22. The forum participants from Asia, Europe and the Americas discussed cybersecurity, internet governance, developing the DNS industry, expanding internet access, as well as global, regional and national approaches to internet governance.
Information security was a key discussion subject. A global trend, security issues feature prominently on the agenda of the concerned parties involved in internet governance. In April 2018, information security was the main theme of the Russian Internet Governance Forum in St. Petersburg.
Mikhail Anisimov, Deputy Head of the Information Service at the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ, moderated a panel discussion on cybersecurity in the digital economy context. The participants discussed digitalization of the economy and development of a safe and reliable environment for the business and government services. Conditions include higher standards of education and digital literacy, the establishment of expert and advisory bodies at the governmental and legislative agencies in charge of drafting laws and regulations, and active public-private partnership.
Mikhail Anisimov spoke about the Russian experience and the Coordination Center projects aimed at enhancing information literacy and combating illegal content. “The Central Asian Internet Governance Forum held in Astana has shown that the internet governance agenda is boundless, and that different countries and regions are faced with very similar problems. Despite different national identities, we can see now that decisions taken and applied in one part of the world can be useful for other countries and regions. Internet governance forums are platforms that allow experts from different countries to exchange experience and best practices,” Anisimov said.
