India to host global conference on cyber space in November

India will host Global Conference on Cyber Space (GCCS) 2017, the world's largest conference on cyber space here on November 23 - 24 and the conference will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The GCCS is taking place outside Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) nations for the first time.

The theme for the GCCS 2017 is 'Cyber4All: An Inclusive, Sustainable, Developmental, Safe and Secure Cyberspace'.

"India will be hosting the 5th GCCS in 2017, one of the world's largest conferences on Cyber Space and related issues" announced Union Minister of Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad in the presence of Union Minister of State, Ministry of Law and Justice P.P. Chaudhary, after chairing a high-Level organizing committee meeting today.

Prasad said, "We feel proud to host the 5th of edition of the prestigious Global Conference on Cyber Space in 2017. The theme of this conference in a way reflects the changing architecture of India in the digital space. Among the multiple transformative programmes under Digital India, the biggest thing that India brings about to the table is Digital Inclusion that makes it sustainable and developmental; which has been given utmost importance under the theme Cyber4All."

The GCCS is a prestigious international conference that aims at encouraging dialogue among stakeholders of cyberspace, which has been taking place since 2011.

Incepted in 2011 in London, the GCCS witnessed a participation of 700 global delegates. It helped in setting up rules and guidelines for the editions to follow. The second conference was held in 2012 in Budapest with focus on relationship between internet rights and internet security and was attended by 700 delegates from nearly 60 countries.

The third edition of GCCS was held in 2013 in Seoul with participation from 1600 delegates. The conference built on the themes such as economic growth and development, social and cultural benefits, a safe and secure cyberspace, cybercrime and international security.

The cyber security will be one of the major focus areas in GCCS 2017 especially as the central government is in the process of setting up separate sector specific emergency response centres to ensure cyber security and strengthen technology infrastructure.

The conference will be an ideal forum for the exchange of ideas with global think thanks and promote closer co-operation among the international community.