Joint statement by foreign ministers of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation member states on expanding cooperation in international information security

The CSTO member states,

noting significant progress in the development of information and communication technology, its increasing influence on people’s daily lives all over the world and on international information security,

expressing concern about growing threats related to the use of ICT for purposes that are not compatible with the tasks to ensure international peace, security and strategic stability and that can pose a threat to the national and collective security of the CSTO member states,

emphasising that information security of each CSTO member state shapes common information security and directly affects the collective security of the member states,  

believing to be unacceptable any destructive actions with the use of information infrastructure and technology, including through third countries and private companies in order to interfere in the domestic affairs of the CSTO member states, as well as illegal use of ICT to the detriment of the interests of the individual, society and the state,

denoting as unacceptable the use of ICT for propaganda and stirring up hate towards ethnic and religious groups,

attaching great importance to joint efforts, including together with the interested members of the global community, to prevent hostile actions and acts of aggression aimed at undermining sovereignty and violating the territorial integrity of states and posing a threat to international peace and security:

The CSTO member states urge the global community to abstain from illegal use of ICT to damage information resources, critical infrastructure and other important facilities of states.

The CSTO member states acknowledge the paramount need to prevent conflicts with the use of ICT and for this purpose call for strengthening cooperation between states on the entire range of issues related to international information security involving authorised national agencies.

The CSTO member states call for ensuring international information security based on the UN Charter and common norms and principles of international law.

The CSTO member states emphasise that the UN must play the central role in promoting dialogue between member states on the entire range of issues related to international information security.

The CSTO member states note the priority task of forming an international legal regime to regulate the use of ICT by reaching universal legally binding agreements.

The CSTO member states welcome the efforts of the UN Open-ended Working Group on security of and in the use of information and communications technologies for 2021-2025. They support keeping the group as a united interstate negotiations mechanism under the auspices of the organisation and developing practical solutions aimed at strengthening the security of information space.

The CSTO member states note the need to develop practical cooperation in tackling the use of ICT for criminal purposes and in this regard, confirm their resolute intent to adopt an all-encompassing international convention on countering the use of ICT for criminal purposes under the auspices of the UN in accordance with the mandate by the Ad Hoc Committee to Elaborate a Comprehensive International Convention on Countering the Use of Information and Communications Technologies for Criminal Purposes.

The CSTO member states acknowledge the importance of boosting interaction of the CSTO member states on the issues related to the use of the internet, including to ensure equal rights of the states for access to the global network, and speak for increasing the role of the International Telecommunication Union in this regard.

The CSTO member states emphasise the importance of launching consultations of the member states with other interested countries, regional organisations and associations.

The CSTO member states are guided by the need to boost political interaction under the Agreement on Information Security Cooperation of 2017, which has come into force, and to improve the coordination of approaches to the issues of information security on the global stage in line with the collective instructions to the permanent delegations of the CSTO member states in international organisations of 2016.