Event description
Regional Conference for the Western Balkans, titled “Building Regional Cyber Resilience”, was organised by the Western Balkans Cyber Capacity Centre (WB3C) in Podgorica, Montenegro, on 11 June 2024. It gathered representatives of states as well as other stakeholders to address pertinent cyber issues including boosting cybersecurity resilience of critical infrastructure, cooperation for combating cybercrime, role of artificial intelligence and ethics in cybersecurity, and cyber diplomacy and international cooperation.
Panel on cyberdiplomacy, led by Ambassador Tadej Rupel, Cyber and Digital Ambassador of Slovenia, featured distinguished panellists including:
- Vladimir Radunovic, Director of cybersecurity and e-diplomacy at DiploFoundation,
- Demosthenes Ikonomou, Head of Capacity Building Unit of ENISA,
- Erna Catic Director Security and Defence policy at EEAS,
- Nikolas Ott of Microsoft, Deputy Senior Director of Digital Diplomacy at Microsoft,
- Andreja Mihailovic, Lecturer at the University of Montenegro and President of Women4Cyber Montenegro, and
- Mahé Dersoir, Policy Officer at the Cyber Unit of the MFEA of France.
Panel discussed some of the critical aspects of international collaboration in the field of cybersecurity. Some of the main take-aways are:
- The EU has implemented legislation and legal frameworks to address the changing security landscape and protect the open, free, and stable cyberspace.
- ENISA supplements national authorities and agencies through capacity-building and skill development initiatives in both tactical and technical domains.
- Private sector contributions to cyber diplomacy in the Western Balkans, particularly through public-private partnerships and threat intelligence sharing.
- Civil society’s role in promoting collaboration in cyber diplomacy, conducting policy research and capacity building, and piloting new tools for diplomacy, like the AI assistants developed by DiploFoundation.
- Higher education can incorporate social sciences to align with evolving technology needs.
- The French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs is actively involved in cyber diplomacy by engaging in bilateral and multilateral dialogues to establish norms and transparency, supporting EU-wide cybersecurity efforts, and promoting international cooperation and responsible state behaviour in cyberspace.
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