The United States and India agreed in talks here Wednesday to launch a new phase in cyber security cooperation, including scientific exchanges, officials said. They established five joint working groups and identified action plans for each, during the second meeting of the US-India Cyber Security Forum, a statement from the US State Department said.
"Future efforts will include workshops in New Delhi and Washington and scientific exchanges," it said.
The talks, attended by government and industry representatives, were aimed at identifying areas for collaboration in combating cyber crime, cyber security research and development, as well as defence cooperation.
Representatives of private industry similarly identified areas to strengthen cooperation on securing cyberspace, the statement added.
The US government and corporations utilise information technology companies in India at a rate of about nine billion dollars annually, officials said.
"As this trend increases, it is crucial that our governments and private industry work together to ensure an environment for secure transactions, networks, and software development," US Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs Lincoln Bloomfield said at the two-day meeting.
Bloomfield headed the US delegation to the talks.
The first meeting was held in New Delhi more than two years ago to cope with increasing interdependency between India and the United States in the information technology field, officials said.
US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Marc Grossman emphasised that the forum held "great promise for future co-operation." The Indian delegation head, National Security Council Secretariat Joint Secretary Arvind Gupta, said that "securing cyberspace will remain one of the biggest challenges facing the international community for years to come." He said the forum had emerged as an important bilateral mechanism to address such issues.