Highlights – September 2022
26 September - 30 September
Cybersecurity: Asia and the Pacific
On 28 September, ITU in partnership with UNICEF Bhutan and BtCIRT organised the first Child Online Protection Task Force meeting. In attendance were representatives from the Royal Police of Bhutan, Bhutan Telecom, Tashi Cell, Paro College of Education, and the Ministry of Education. The work plan and timeline for the upcoming Focus Group Discussions for children, parents/educators, industry and policymakers; the identification and localization of the guidelines; and the target group members were some of the items discussed.
Cybersecurity: CIS
On 28-29 September, ITU spoke about the Union's global collaborative approach to Child Online Protection in a session on “Digital born generation: risks of the digital environment today and tomorrow” at the Russian Internet Governance Forum (RIGF 2022). Speakers and participants of RIGF 2022 discussed the development of the Internet and its governance ecosystem, cybersecurity and critical infrastructure protection, new technologies in education, use of artificial intelligence, as well as online safety for the "Digital Born" generation.
Digital inclusion: Global
In the week 26 to 30 September ITU raised awareness and promoted the ITU work and resources to support the global overarching goal of digital inclusion and eliminate inequalities among over 300 policy and decision-makers and participants in a series of events on older people and ICT/digital accessibility as follows:
- BDT participated in the Workshop on Good Practices for Implementing an Intersectionality Perspective in Efforts to Eliminate Racial Discrimination and Protect Minorities, hosted by OHCHR on 27 September, with the aim of developing practices on how to apply the protection of minorities from an intersectionality perspective.
- The event also debated the contribution of UN Agencies in partnership with the Member States, civil societies, and human rights defenders. BDT highlighted that discrimination can also be experienced by individuals for whom ICTs are not available, affordable, and accessible.
- In line with the panellists’ discussion, BDT reiterated that to achieve digital inclusion of vulnerable groups and support the protection of minorities and of persons with specific needs worldwide (such as indigenous communities, refugees, migrants, people with disabilities, the ageing population, illiterate people, etc.), ICT accessibility is a key requirement. BDT invited all stakeholders and participants to use the ICT Accessibility resources in their work and mainstream accessibility to achieve cross-sectoral inclusion.
Digital inclusion: Americas
On Saturday 17 September in New York, the EQUALS Her Digital Skills team organised a hybrid workshop for tech skills through mobile app development. Registrations were facilitated by the regional partner, Latinas in Tech. ITU, GSMA, and W4 were among the organisations that took part, with Verizon providing instructional support.
Digital inclusion: Asia and the Pacific
ITU attended Huawei’s annual flagship event, “Huawei Connect 2022”, held in Bangkok, Thailand. ITU presented “Asia and the Pacific digital inclusion status: Importance of digital inclusion and how it would create a sustainable future”. The session gathered over 100 participants, including environmental and energy ministers, industry partners, and media from all over the region to discuss the vital role of technology as an enabler in accelerating Sustainable Development Goals.
Digital inclusion: Global
On 29 September ITU participated in the Asia-Pacific Healthy Ageing Summit as a guest speaker and highlighted the role of ICTs as an enabler in achieving healthy and active ageing. During the intervention, ITU promoted the guidelines developed for policy and decision-makers and other related resources, including the Ageing in a digital world: from vulnerable to valuable report and the ICTs for better ageing and livelihood in the digital landscape online self-paced training, jointly with the tools for ICT accessibility.
Furthermore, ITU raised awareness on two global megatrends: the rapidly growing ageing global population and the exponential rise of technology in almost all aspects of our lives. The aim was to incentivize stakeholders and decision-makers in the Asia-Pacific region to become more digitally inclusive and to help the design and development of environments and societies that are digitally inclusive for everyone, regardless of age, location, gender, abilities, or disabilities; in doing so, to also boost not only healthy ageing, but create social and economic opportunities for those left behind digital transformation.
Digital inclusion: Global
On Friday 16 September, the EQUALS working coalitions for Skills, Leadership and Research held status update and goal-setting meetings in New York City, hosted generously at the Ford Foundation building. Coalitions discussed harmonising initiatives across silos and within working groups; reporting; measurement and evaluation; and communication. The Skills Coalition provided a status report on the impact-to-date of the Her Digital Skills initiative, among others; the Leadership Coalition focused on webinar series; the Research Coalition reviewed its recent publication of an Africa-focused annex to the 2018 EQUALS Research Report, as well as planning for future data reporting.
Digital inclusion: Global
The annual EQUALS Global Partnership meeting was held in New York City on Saturday 17 September 2022. The meeting, generously hosted by Monaco’s Permanent Mission to the UN and attended by the ITU SG and BDT Director, was attended by 51 partner organizations from all sectors, with the goal of coordinating work, measuring and evaluating progress, and setting new goals. This was the first in-person EQUALS Annual Meeting since 2019, and partners expressed support for shared Generation Equality commitments, EQUALS coalition initiatives, and measurement and evaluation.
Digital inclusion: Global
On 30 September 2022, BDT took part in the WSIS & SDG TalkX multistakeholder panel aimed at highlighting the resilience of older women in the face of environmental, social, economic, and lifelong inequalities, with a primary focus on how Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) can reduce inequalities and empower everyone, including older persons. In line with the 2022 theme of the UN International Day of Older Persons, “Resilience of Older Persons in a Changing World” ITU-D reiterated the significant role of older persons and the valuable contribution of older women to their families, societies, and the world as a whole.
Furthermore, awareness was raised on the ITU resources aimed at supporting WSIS stakeholders’ efforts in making a more digitally inclusive world for all, as the youth of today are the old of tomorrow.
Digital inclusion: Global
On 28 September 2022, BDT had the pleasure of contributing to the “Using Media Briefing on #Safelistening-webinar" hosted by WHO, which aimed to spread awareness on the importance of educating the youth on media briefing and safe listening (through ICTs). In support of WHO’s initiative and with the aim to raise awareness and provide assistance to the Member States, ITU-D highlighted our joint work with WHO within the Safe Listening Initiative (over 1.1 billion youth are at risk of hearing loss due to unsafe listening systems and practices), advising policy and decision-makers to use the WHO-ITU Toolkit for Safe Listening Devices and Systems.
It also raised awareness of the fact that preventing sound-induced hearing loss from an early age is crucial for future generations to avoid disability challenges and maintain healthy and independent lives.
Finally, BDT reiterated that the fruitful collaboration between ITU and WHO, which resulted in the development of an influential standard for safe listening to music players, is now being expanded to look at gaming and e-sports.
Digital services and applications: CIS
On 28-29 September 2022, over 85 participants attended a two-day training on smart sustainable cities for local authorities in Pinsk, co-organized by ITU, the Ministry of Communications and Informatization of the Republic of Belarus and the Belarusian State Academy of Communications. The training aimed to equip municipalities with the necessary skills to improve the quality of life of people and create an enabling business environment via digital solutions. Participants also learned about new tools that can make the governance process more interactive and participative.
Emergency telecommunications: Global
ITU participated in the 2022 Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) Implementation workshop, which took place in Amsterdam between 19 – 21 September 2022. ITU presented its efforts to promote CAP, which is a standardised format (based on ITU Recommendation ITU-T x1303) for sending emergency warning messages/alerts. A major focus of the workshop was the UN SG's new goal of protecting every person on Earth with an early warning system. At the workshop, ITU met with several countries and experts and discussed how it can support countries and provide technical expertise to ensure that more developing countries adopt a CAP-based early warning system, taking advantage of ICTs.
Emergency telecommunications: Global
The ITU Emergency Telecommunication team, along with one of the members of the Emergency Telecommunication Roster, participated in the “gear.UP” 2022 training in Neuhausen, Germany, held from 17–24 September 2022. “gear.UP” is a large-scale inter-agency operational exercise and functional training event designed to advance the emergency response capabilities of the global ICT and logistics humanitarian community, organised by ITU’s key partner, the Emergency Telecommunication Cluster (ETC).
Emergency telecommunications: Global
The ITU Emergency Telecommunications team met with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) to discuss the new UN initiative on Early Warning Systems for all. This climate change adaptation measure, set by the UN Secretary General in March 2022, stipulates that by 2027, every person in the world should be protected by an early warning system.
During the meeting, ITU highlighted the opportunities brought by the growth in digital services to effectively reach and deliver alerts to people at risk, especially over mobile cellular networks, which reach a very large percentage of the population. It was decided that ITU would work closely with WMO and other partners to support the UN Global Early Warning Initiative by engaging mobile network operators and regulators, as well as identifying and sharing best practises and expertise. WMO – which has been designated to lead on this initiative – will present an “action plan” on the initiative during COP27, in Egypt in November 2022.
Environment: Global
On 22 September 2022, ITU participated in an event with the Circular Electronics Partnership (CEP), which marked the launch of the Circular Electronics System Map, which ITU helped develop. Almost 150 participants joined the online launch, which included a panel discussion comprising ITU, other international organisations, think tanks, and industry players. ITU provided input during the panel discussion on its technical assistance to support countries in the development of e-waste regulation.
Network and digital infrastructure: CIS
The Digital Bridge International Technology Forum took place in Astana from 28 - 29 September 2022. ITU CIS presented the Connect2Recover report to Kazakhstan. Farid Nakhli, the ITU Programme Coordinator for the CIS, moderated the panel session on "Developing Broadband Access to Bridge the Digital Divide''. Leading IT specialists and technology entrepreneurs gathered at the dialogue platform to exchange experiences and innovative solutions in the field of digital development. The forum was opened by the President of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, who underlined that the annual Digital Bridge in four years has become a large and popular regional platform.
On 28 September 2022, after an extensive data collection exercise, an assessment of the network/ISP resilience, critical infrastructure resilience, and market resilience, as well as an assessment of the National ICT Strategy of Kazakhstan, the report of the findings was officially presented to the wide audience at the High-Level Digital Bridge Forum 2022 (Astana, Kazakhstan). The report was carried out based on Phase 2 and Phase 3 of the Connect2Recover methodology. It provided an overview of the current data gaps and made recommendations on the enhancement of digital resiliency and strengthening of regulatory measures.
The event went well, with a robust discussion on the findings and great interest from the audience.
Policy and regulation: Americas
On 29 September 2022, the ITU Central America Area Office participated in the 6th Internet Governance Forum of Guatemala IGF 2022. The panel discussed the state of regulations in Central America for the promotion of meaningful connectivity. During the panel, the ITU tools and initiatives to support the countries, including Partner2Connect, the Digital Transformation Wheel, and other regulatory tools, were presented.
19 September - 23 September
Cybersecurity: CIS
On 20 September, the "DiscoTech" cybersecurity forum for civil society, NGOs, civic activists and journalists was held in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Farid Nakhli, Programme Coordinator for the CIS Regional Office, presented his report on the Global Cybersecurity Index at the forum.
Digital inclusion: Asia and the Pacific
ITU participated in the first meeting of the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) Digital Inclusion Technical Working Group organized by the Economic and Social Infrastructure Department in partnership with the World Bank, the Global Infrastructure Hub, the Digital Cooperation Organization, ITU and GSMA on 15 September at the IsDB Group Business Forum (THIQAH) in Cairo, Egypt. The meeting was held under the theme, “improving livelihoods through bridging the digital divide”. ITU presented the Digital Transformation Wheel and explored further collaboration with group members.
Digital inclusion: Africa
On 14 September, as part of the EIF-ITU project “Tech as a Driver of Women’s Economic Opportunity”, 40 policymakers – 85% of whom were women officials from the Ministry of ICT, the Ministry of Trade and the Regulator of Burundi – participated in a training course delivered by GSMA on bridging the mobile gender gap. This training is part of efforts to share knowledge and policymaking tools to mainstream gender perspectives across administrations’ digital economies.
Digital innovation ecosystems: Asia and the Pacific
ITU’s Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific provided the introductory remarks at the Youth4South Entrepreneurship Competition, a joint special event on the sidelines of the Global South-South Development (GSSD) Expo in Bangkok, Thailand. The event was organized by the Government of Thailand, UNOSSC, ESCAP, in partnership with ITU and UNFPA. ITU’s Innovation Thematic Priority Lead served as a juror at the competition, and organized a workshop and discussion panel as part of the GSSD Expo.
Environment: Africa
In-country e-waste surveying has begun in Kenya and Burundi for the East Africa Data Harmonization project using a mixed mode data collection approach. A quantitative structured questionnaire administered via a CATI (Computer Assisted Telephonic Interviews) platform is being used to collect data for households in Kenya and Burundi, and for businesses in Kenya. In Burundi, business surveys are being conducted using face-to-face interviews via a CAPI (Computer Assisted Personal Interviews) platform. Data collection is due to be completed at the end of September. The data from the surveys will be analysed and validated during a workshop in Kenya in October.
Giga: Global
During the Transforming Education Summit (TES), on Solutions Day on 17 September, BDT Director, Doreen Bogdan-Martin, joined the “Data and Accountability” session. She emphasised the importance of including meaningful school connectivity measures in the national benchmarks that will be used to track TES commitments. Additionally on Solutions Day, Giga was showcased in the session “Giga Initiative: Transforming Education through Digital Connectivity”. Spain and Switzerland spoke about their contributions to school connectivity through their hosting of the Giga Technology Centre in Barcelona and the Giga Secretariat in Geneva, respectively. Ministers from Rwanda, Mongolia, Namibia, Botswana, El Salvador, Uzbekistan and Malawi shared their experience, ambitions and appreciation for Giga.
On Leader’s Day (19 September), UN Secretary-General António Guterres mentioned Giga in his opening remarks, when he said: “I urge countries to improve connectivity for students and educational institutions. Our own Giga initiative aims to get all schools online.” In the TES Vision Statement, the UN Secretary-General says, “Countries should take rapid action towards full educational connectivity and the international community must back the ongoing expansion of the Giga initiative to support country action.” Later, during the Digital Transformation Spotlight Session, a call to action was issued, urging Member States to make commitments across the three keys to unlock the power of digital teaching and learning: Content, Capacity and Connectivity. On connectivity, it states: “We commit to adopting a whole-of-government approach and leveraging existing initiatives, such as Giga (UNICEF and ITU), to implement the policies, regulations, technologies, and financing required to ensure that school connectivity is safe, sustainable, and equitable.” In his remarks, ITU SG Houlin Zhao reinforced the importance of Giga, to achieving the goal of connecting all schools.
Other: Global
On 13 September, ITU staff from the Environment team and GovStack met with UNEP colleagues (including from the Coalition of Digital Environmental Sustainability, CODES) to discuss opportunities to collaborate on creating a circular economy for electronics and green digital transformation. Going forward, UNEP and ITU will work together to develop a concept note for a joint project which will cover e-waste related use cases for GovStack, to implement data collection activities and green digital transformation.
Connect2Recover: CIS
The annual Digital Bridge International Technology Forum in Astana, Kazakhstan, was held on 28-29 September. The ITU Regional Office for CIS "Connect to Recover" report was presented at the Forum. Digital Bridge is one of the largest ICT events in Kazakhstan, attended by leaders of the international IT community, professionals in the field of digital development, IT companies, startups, venture investors, representatives of government agencies and the media.
12 September - 18 September
Cybersecurity
The Women in Cyber Mentorship programme continues to build technical, interpersonal and leadership skills of over 200 women with the support of mentors and trainers. The programme included a half-day technical training session for women in cybersecurity from the Africa, Arab and Asia-Pacific regions, on ‘Introduction to Incident Response (IR)’. The session helped share knowledge on the importance and objectives of IR, as well as on the types of incidents and approaches to incident response.
Cybersecurity: CIS
12 teams from 7 countries and more than 70 participants were part of the ITU Interregional Cyber Drill for Arab and CIS regions held on 14-16 September in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Participants shared experiences and best practices, and discussed current cybersecurity approaches and challenges. The participating CIRT teams also engaged in hands-on exercises that aimed to assist improving their cybersecurity readiness, protection, and incident response capabilities.
Cybersecurity: CIS
On 15 September during the meeting of the Business Advisory Council at UNICEF Kazakhstan, the ITU Regional Office for CIS presented the outcomes of COP assessments on policy and industry related measures in Kazakhstan. The meeting also discussed: the progress of the working group on Child Online Safety; the action plan and next steps; shared-value partnerships; the voice of children and youth on online safety, and joint actions.
Cybersecurity
On 1 September, the Cybersecurity team hosted a meeting with representatives from Iraq’s National CERT. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the needs of Iraq and the next steps in this regard. The team shared and explained ITU’s general approach in supporting countries and initiatives related to cybersecurity development. Iraq’s delegation is keen on learning more and possibly cooperating on Women in Cyber, Youth, and Child Online Protection projects. In terms of the next steps, the cybersecurity team will follow up on this meeting with the Regional Office of Arab States and develop an action plan in late October 2022. Items to be discussed also include the GCI, CERT capacity development, a workshop on Iraq’s NCS endorsed in 2021 and a review of the CMM of 2022.
Cybersecurity
On 1 September, the cybersecurity team and the Regional Office of Arab States hosted an online meeting with representatives from Bahrain’s National CIRT and National Cybersecurity Agency. This was an initial meeting to discuss the planned workshop on the GCI and possible engagement of Bahrain in cybersecurity activities. Bahrain’s team expressed strong interest in Women in Cyber, Child Online Protection, the GCI and Cyber for Good. There will be a follow-up with Bahrain in October 2022.
Digital inclusion: Global
Following the hackathon that was held at the GC Global Youth Summit, the HackingDigitalSkills4Jobs Hackathon finalists took part in a webinar series led by Dr. Melissa Sassi. The three sessions focused on Investment Readiness, a Future of Work Deep Dive, as well as Design and Entrepreneurial thinking. Participants learned how to build and scale their businesses, create a value proposition, prepare for the future, and handle uncertainty.
Digital inclusion: Global
On 5 September, the EQUALS Access Coalition conducted an online learning labs session for all EQUALS partners. The session was headed by the Access Coalition co-chairs, Ms. Diana Ninsiima (DOT) and Ms. Natalia Vincente (GSOA). These peer-to-peer design sessions were based on topics identified by members, and aimed at building collective knowledge and intelligence through a dynamic discussion. The themes of the labs were around policy strategies for women's inclusion in the digital space, and technology's changing role in women-led entrepreneurship.
Giga: CIS
On 16 September, the second meeting of the Giga Steering Committee met under the chairmanship of Askhat Orazbek, Deputy Minister of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The ITU Regional office for CIS presented the Connect2Recover report on infrastructure resilience. The Steering Committee reviewed the results of the Giga initiative in its two years of operation, such as connecting 38 rural schools in the Turkestan Region to broadband internet, piloting a project to monitor the speed of Internet connection in schools, and other initiatives.
I-CoDI: Global
The I-CoDI Global Team has launched an informal, monthly, UN Innovation Leads in Geneva lunch series in September, together with the innovation and digital transformation teams from UNICEF, UNEP, ICRC, UNHCR and UN Innovation Network. This is to share key learnings, tips and tricks, and create an innovative support network for synergies and collaboration. As a next step – I-CoDI is working on establishing a broader UN Innovation Booster get-together in Geneva for the UN community – more news to come!
Giga: Global
The United Nations Transforming Education Summit (TES) opened on 16 September, at UNHQ in New York during the 77th session the UN General Assembly (UNGA). The three-day Summit aimed to mobilize political ambition, action, solidarity, and solutions with a view to transforming education between now and 2030. The Summit consisted of “Mobilization Day” on 16 September, a “Solutions Day” on 17 September and a “Leaders Day” on 19 September 2022. Giga had a prominent space at TES and the UN General Assembly.
On 17 September, at the “Data and Monitoring: Bringing Accountability to our Promises to Transform Education” countries presented their national SDG 4 benchmarks, and participants discussed accountability and the importance of connectivity for digital learning and transformation, and for overall education outcomes.
At the “Reimagining Learning through Digital Transformation and Partnership” session, Giga was featured as part of the UNICEF Reimagine Education initiative, the global movement to prioritise the most vulnerable children and young people to get connected and gain access to quality digital learning.
Then at the “Giga Initiative: Transforming Education through Digital Connectivity” session hosted by Spain, Switzerland, ITU and UNICEF, Giga was showcased as a key platform to advance the TES objectives.
On 18 September, Giga was featured at the UNGA “Annual Fall Meeting of the Broadband Commission” and the “Forging Paths to Digital Transformation and Inclusive Digital Societies-A Partner2Connect Digital Coalition Event’’. On 19 September, the “Spotlight Session 4: Digital Transformation of Education” featured a Call to Action across three keys to unlock the power of digital teaching and learning: content, capacity and connectivity. Switzerland and Spain spoke about their important contributions to these three keys through their support to Giga.
I-CoDI: Global
On 20 September I-CoDI held an information session for colleagues from BR
I-CoDI: Global
Now you can learn about ITU’s International Centre of Digital Innovation accelerated innovation journey approach! The I-CoDI Playbook, created in collaboration with the UAE’s Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority (TDRA) Centre of Digital Innovation (CoDI), is a resource guide and a toolkit aimed at prospective facilitators of the I-CoDI innovation journey within the ITU Headquarters and Regional Offices. It is a reference document for I-CoDI facilitators who would be trained in the methodology in support of the I-CoDI 100 Day Journey rollout within the ITU and its stakeholders. The I-CoDI 100 Day Innovation Journey is a structured process for accelerated innovation, combined with coaching support. It is designed for teams to inspire and enable intense collaboration, continuous innovation, as well as fast and disciplined execution of ideas and solutions accelerating digital transformation and innovating for connectivity in the countries. Together with TDRA, I-CoDI Team is organizing a Train the Trainer workshop from 10 -13 October in Dubai for the I-CoDI Regional Focal Points and selected staff representing all the sectors and the General Secretariat.
5 September - 9 September
Capacity development - Asia and Pacific
ITU has co-organized a CoE training on Big Data, IoT & Industry 4.0: Approaches & Security Considerations with IoT Academy, Iran, under the auspices of CoE IoT programme in Asia and the Pacific from 5-18 September.
ITU has also co-organized a CoE training on Smart Manufacturing: Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence, Digital Twins in Industry 4.0, under the auspices of CoE IoT programme in Asia and the Pacific from 22 August – 4 September
Network and digital infrastructure: CIS
A training on 5G technology was held in Kyrgyzstan from 24 to 26 August. It was attended by more than 60 specialists, representing the Telecommunication Administration, regulatory bodies, telecommunication operators and the private sector of the country. The training focused on various aspects of the implementation of 5G/IMT-2020 networks at the national level, including approaches for the allocation of new radio frequency bands and the use of spectrum for 5G.
Policy and regulation: Asia and the Pacific
ITU participated in the UN Country Team Thailand’s meeting with the Bangkok Governor. Attendees from UN agencies shared UN flagship initiatives and potential areas of collaboration with the Governor. During the discussion, ITU highlighted Girls in ICT Day 2023.
Policy and regulation: Asia and the Pacific
The fourth G20 Digital Economy Working Group (DEWG) meeting and the Digital Economy Minister’s Meeting (DEMM) under Indonesia’s presidency was held from 30 August- 1 Sep in Bali, Indonesia. Issues such as digital connectivity, digital skills and digital literacy, and cross border data flow with trust were discussed. ITU is a knowledge partner for the Digital Economy Track of the G20 Presidency and provided high-quality research on three deliverables pertaining to Priority Issue 1: The Stocktaking of the extended concept and shared understanding of digital connectivity and Priority Issue 2: Compendium of frameworks on best practices and regulations on advanced digital skills and digital literacy. ITU’s Secretary General Mr. Houlin Zhao and the Regional Director for Asia and Pacific Ms. Atsuko Okuda attended the DEMM meeting. The SG gave a speech before session 1 on Connectivity and Post COVID-19 Recovery, in which he highlighted the high priority placed on ICTs by all G20 Member countries. He also highlighted the importance of connecting rural and remote communities in the least developed countries, landlocked developing countries and small island developing states, through ITU’s Smart Village and Smart Islands (SVSI) project. He noted the recognition given to SVSI by several member countries. Finally, he thanked Indonesia for their leadership and support and reiterated ITU’s commitment to working with all G20 partners to ensure that no one is left behind. While the Ministerial Declaration was not adopted due to sensitive issues, leaders across the G20 re-affirmed their commitment to resilient, sustainable and inclusive development through digital transformation.
Cybersecurity: CIS (upcoming)
An Arab States - CIS Inter-regional Cyberdrill will be held from 14 to 16 September in Almaty, Kazakhstan. The Cyberdrill is organised at the kind invitation of the Ministry of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Center for Cyber Attack Analysis and Investigation (TSARKA) of Kazakhstan. This capacity-building exercise will aim to enhance the communication and incident response capabilities of the participating teams, as well as to ensure a continued collective effort in mitigating cyber threats among the regions' national Computer Incident Response Teams (CIRTs) and Computer Security Incident Response Teams (CSIRTs).