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UN General Assembly passes resolution on information security — Russian Foreign Ministry

The resolution co-authored by 80 countries from all regions of the world welcomes the convocation of a new UN Group of Governmental Experts on international information security

MOSCOW, November 2. /TASS/. The Russian draft resolution titled "Developments in the field of information and telecommunications in the context of international security" has been passed during the 71st session of the UN General Assembly, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.

"This year, at the request of one of the delegations, our draft resolution was put to the vote and approved unanimously with the support of 177 countries," the ministry said. "The only country that did not join the consensus was Ukraine, which abstained in the vote demonstrating once again the counterproductive nature and inconsistency of its foreign policy."

According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, this resolution co-authored by 80 countries from all regions of the world welcomes the convocation of a new UN Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) on international information security. "The first GGE meeting was held in August 2016 in New York, three more meetings of the group are planned in 2016-2017," the ministry said. "The main objective of this Group of Governmental Experts is developing the rules of states’ responsible behavior in the information space."

"The New GGE relies on the positive experience of the previous group, which was able to develop recommendations that, according to many experts, can be considered to be the original rules, regulations and principles of states’ responsible behavior in the global information space," the ministry noted. "Along with the work on the rules, the new Group’s mandate includes further study of internationally accepted legal aspects of the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) by states, confidence-building measures in the information space and issues related to bridging the gap in the ICT development level."

"We hope that the activities of the new UN GGE on international information security will ensure peaceful use of ICT for the benefit of national development and international stability," the Russian Foreign Ministry said.