On June 7, the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs hosted a workshop entitled „The Road to Seoul: Inviting Africa to Take Part in Cyber Security”, as part of the Africa Forum taking place in Budapest. The workshop was attended by representatives from several, mainly African countries, the EU, NGOs and enterprises.

Having organised a successful International Cyber Space Conference in 2012, Hungary will participate actively in the preparations for the upcoming International Cyber Space Conference in Seoul, South Korea, in October. The workshop discussion hosted by the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs deliberately centred on the upcoming conference, and so contributed to making this imitative global through involving the African countries.

In her opening remarks, Chief of Cabinet Klára Breuer pointed out that the workshop organised under the aegis of the Budapest Africa Forum was significant also because the efforts made by Hungary last year to include African countries in international cooperation on cyber security had not brought the desired results. Klára Breuer praised the accomplishments achieved by Africa in the areas of democratisation and economic growth, adding that that information technology was an important factor in these areas. The Chief of Cabinet of the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs declared that, while the benefits of IT were obvious, it was important to draw attention to the threats and risks involved in applying information technology; she added that it was the duty of each government to join – for the sake of their citizens – international cooperation aimed at tackling the challenges of cyber security.

The participants of the workshop discussed the achievements of the London-Budapest-Seoul Process and expressed their expectations regarding the upcoming conference in Seoul. They also explored the role of information and communication technology in promoting economic growth.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs)