India, France discuss on digital technology partnership

August 23, 2019: India and France has concluded the road-map to make digital technology a transformative factor in their societies, to fight terror, to foster economic growth, sustainable development and secure enhanced internet access which is essential to bridge digital divide.

“France and India affirm their commitment to an open, reliable, secure, stable and peaceful cyberspace. International law, and in particular the Charter of the United Nations, is applicable and is essential to maintaining peace and stability and promoting an open, secure, peaceful and accessible digital environment. They reaffirm the importance of promoting, and implementing voluntary norms of responsible state behaviour in cyberspace as well as confidence and capacity-building measures developed within the framework of the United Nations. This ensemble is the foundation of peace and security in cyberspace,” according to Indo-French roadmap on cyber security and digital technology that was agreed at the Summit meet between Indian prime minister Narendra Modi and the French president Emmanuel Macron.

France and India recognise the shared responsibility of a wide variety of actors, in their respective roles, to improve trust, security and stability in cyberspace. They call for the strengthening of the multi-stakeholder approach to ensure an open, secure, stable, accessible and peaceful digital environment, and stress that this requires joint efforts by governments, industry, academia, and civil society, according to the roadmap.

France and India intend to work for the promotion of an inclusive and transparent, open digital environment by preserving a multi-stakeholder and multilateral approach to the internet that respects the interests of all stakeholders including the states.

India and France also affirm their willingness to reinforce their cooperation, notably through the sharing of information between their cyber security agencies, in order to prevent malicious activities, undertake immediate corrective response, mitigate their potential impact and identify their causes.

Recognising the need to strengthen the security of digital processes, products and services, France and India intended to share information on the legal and regulatory framework and best practices, including on the protection of Economic Information Infrastructure impacting National security, and on testing and certification of digital products. In this context, France and India intend to work together on the risks associated with the deployment of 5G technologies and the technical solutions adopted to deal with them.

France and India further recognised the need to address issue arising from the proliferation of malicious tools and practices in cyberspace, notably by actively participating in relevant discussions under the Wassenaar arrangement, to which both are parties. Towards this, France and India intend to share their respective legal and regulatory frameworks, particularly with regard to the protection of Economic Information infrastructure.

France and India welcomed the potential offered by the development of artificial intelligence (AI), particularly in the field of sustainable development, e-governance, autonomous transportation, smart cities, cyber security, health, education and agriculture.

They recognized the need for developing and implementing AI policies/programmes in the context of citizen centric services, data sovereignty from legal, regulatory and cyber security perspectives. France and India are committed to fostering research and development in AI by sharing expertise and best practices.

India and France wish to develop an innovative digital ecosystem that is secure and respectful of users' data protection. In the context of the implementation of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and India's objective to put in place adequate regulation in this area, both parties recognise that the convergence of data protection frameworks of Europe and India would facilitate the flow of information and data.

The ministry of the economy and finance of France and the ministry of electronics and IT of India will be nodal points to coordinate the implementation of this Indo-French digital partnership through appropriate mechanism.