The G8 Paris Conference: Government/Industry Dialogue on Safety and Confidence in Cyberspace
(Summary and Assessment)

1. Summary

Government officials and industry participants from G8 countries and other interested parties gathered in Paris between May 15 and 17 for a government/industry dialogue on safety and confidence in cyberspace (the G8 Paris Conference). Japan, the G8 chair nation this year, chaired the meeting jointly with France, the host nation. The co-chairmen were Kazuo Ogura, Ambassador of Japan in France, and Pierre Charasse, Ambassador of France, in charge of transnational organized crime and corruption. Those attending from Japan included approximately 20 industry participants from 16 companies and organizations* . The then Director General Toshinori Kanemoto of the International Affairs Department of the National Police Agency, Councillor Mari Amano of the Multilateral Cooperation Department of MOFA and Assistant Vice-Minister of Justice Kazuhiro Watanabe were among the participants from the Japanese government together with those from the relevant Ministries.

* Electronic Network Consortium, Fujitsu Ltd., Nihon Telecom Co., KDD Co., Mitsubishi Electric Corp., Mitsubishi Research Institute Inc., Nakayo Telecommunications Inc., NEC Corp., NIFTY Corp., Nihon Unisys, Ltd., Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp., NTT Communications Corp., NTT Data Corp., NTT DoCoMo Inc., Telecom Services Association of Japan, Toshiba Corp.

2. Results

1) The theme for the Conference was crime on computer networks (with particular emphasis on the location and identification of "high-tech" criminals). Specifically, debate focused on common problems and challenges of high-tech crime for government and industry and on possible solutions to overcome these issues.

2) After the conclusion of the meeting, the G8 governments released a joint press statement, in which they emphasized the need to develop new solutions which should take account of the following elements in order to ensure safety and confidence in cyberspace. (No agreement documents were produced that would be binding on both government and industry.)

3. Assessment

1) Industry and government participants engaged in a frank and practical exchange of opinions at the meeting, which was a first step toward the building of a relationship for continuous government-industry cooperation.

2) During the meeting, industry and government each identified problems relating to countermeasures against high-tech crime and discussed solutions to those problems. This process led to the formation of a shared view on the part of industry and government of the need for concerted efforts in the fight against high-tech crime.

3) The results of the meeting will be considered further at the Lyon Group's Kyoto meeting on May 22-24 and are also likely to be reflected in discussions at the Kyushu-Okinawa Summit in July.