Chair,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union and its Member States.

The Candidate Countries North Macedonia*, Montenegro^*, Albania^*, Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova, Bosnia and Herzegovina^* and Georgia, and the EFTA country Iceland, member of the European Economic Area, as well as San Marino align themselves with this statement.

Chair,

Cyberspace is growing at an unprecedented speed. In the next 10 years, we will see half of the world’s population connected to the internet for the first time. Most of this growth will take place in emerging economies. Therefore, it is more important than ever that capacity-building efforts are accelerated to ensure that all States can safely and securely seize the benefits.

Some of the barriers countries face in building the cyber security capacities are well known, such as cyber-skills gap and access to innovative technologies.

To date, global efforts have also been slow to integrate capacity-building with the broader development agenda. More attention is needed on locating the right partners and creating awareness of the importance of cyber capacity building.

External cyber capacity building as a tool in the EU’s international cyber cooperation has increased. From the initial investment of 10 million Euro in 2007, it has reached almost 170 million Euro in 2022[1]. The focus has moved from technical assistance to a mechanism that can serve multiple policy objectives, including cyber diplomacy as part of the EU’s international cooperation approach.

Mirroring the global trend towards increased desire for coordination of cyber capacity building actions, the EU has increased our commitment to strengthening coordination efforts at the global level as well as internally.  

Chair,

The Accra Call for Cyber Resilient Development that the EU has endorsed along with more than 40 other organisations and nations, offers concrete actions that can help us individually and collectively overcome existing barriers and improve cyber capacity building delivery, effectiveness, and sustainability.

Primarily, it calls on countries to leverage different financing streams and cooperation modalities. This means utilizing a combination of funds from international development cooperation, domestic resource mobilization, and private sector investments. To this end, we need to consider how to integrate more strategically and practically the role of the private sector in cyber capacity building and spark new conversations about how best to do so together.

The Accra Call also outlines that existing mechanisms for cooperation can help us progress, as long as we reflect the central role of partner governments and the value-added of regional organisations and platforms. It calls for local ownership, shared responsibility for coordination, efficient resource utilization, enhanced transparency, and better division of labour among stakeholders.

Moreover, regional organisations and hubs have been central to the effectiveness of cyber capacity building efforts. They help enhance awareness and coordination, minimise duplication, and connect national and international efforts. An example of this is the Global Forum on Cyber Expertise and its regional hubs across Africa, the Americas, the Pacific, and Southeast Asia.

The combination of regional organizations, working in tandem with States, while also supported by the non-governmental multistakeholder community, can ensure effective capacity building projects. Sharing and understanding the success stories of demand-driven capacity building is key to this process.

As a concrete and forward-looking measure the EU supports the establishment of a Programme of Action on Cybersecurity as a permanent mechanism.

In conclusion, Chair, given the speed of technological progress, it is important to think of capacity building as a dynamic process where the needs of stakeholders are in constant evolution and successful implementation can help to provide broader stability and socio-economic growth. Future trajectories will need to recognize the capacity-building coordination that takes place on multiple levels and leverage this to benefit all stakeholders.

The EU stands ready to continue to support the endeavour of bettering capacity-building efforts at the global level. 

Thank you.

* North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.

[1] https://www.eucybernet.eu/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/mapping-report-on-eu-funded-external-cyber-capacity-building-actions-2022.pdf