President of the CRIET (Court for the Repression of Economic Offences and Terrorism),
Special Prosecutor of the CRIET,
Ladies and Gentlemen, representatives of private sector organisations,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I welcome you to this consultation workshop and thank you for your presence and for the thorough preparation you have undertaken in order to play an active part in the discussions on the topics that will be presented in a few moments.
I would also like to welcome the representatives of the International Telecommunication Union, who have been with us for several days and with whom we have already been working remotely for some time. Dear partners, I would ask you kindly to convey my appreciation to the Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau and to the Secretary-General of the ITU for the promptness with which our request for assistance was handled and for the actions that followed from it.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
If each of the organisations and entities you represent here has made a point of taking part in this workshop, it is because you know how important security in cyberspace is. The stakes of information systems security are considerable: they concern the protection of our digital identities, our data, our infrastructure and, by extension, our activities, our businesses and our sovereignty. It is our duty to ensure that every Beninese citizen, every Beninese business and every public or private entity can feel safe when online, in the digital space, just as they feel safe in the physical space.
When a country is engaged in a far-reaching digital transformation, as we are in Benin, it is essential to build digital trust in order to foster the steady development of our digital economy. We must indeed take action so that fear of cyberattacks, of offences committed by unscrupulous individuals, or of penalties arising from a lack of knowledge of the regulations does not hold back the growth of digital usage.
We must therefore provide a comprehensive and coordinated response to the need for governance and steering of cybersecurity and cyberdefence in our country, and such a response can only come from the definition and adoption of our National Cybersecurity Strategy. It is with this in mind that we have undertaken the drafting of this strategy, in partnership with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
I am pleased to recall that this work on drafting our national digital security strategy will strengthen all the actions our country has already implemented, under the leadership of President Patrice Talon, to create a digital ecosystem based on trust:
- The adoption of Law No. 2017-20 on the “Digital Code”, a law which, among other things, establishes the framework for combating cybercrime and strengthening digital trust; and of course the outreach and awareness-raising activities on the provisions of the Digital Code
- The creation of the National Information Systems Security Agency (ANSSI) and the approval of the Agency’s statutes by the Council of Ministers in November 2018
- The existence of a computer security incident response team
- The construction of a national data centre
- The establishment of a national public key infrastructure system to further secure electronic transactions
Ladies and Gentlemen,
You will therefore readily agree with me that the Government has not given fresh impetus to the digital sector without assessing its implications for digital security. By way of illustration, the Estonian index shows that in Benin the gap between digital development and digital security is positive (11.15 points) https://www.ncsi.ega.ee/ncsi-index/ , reflecting the fact that these two areas are progressing at an almost equal pace, and thus showing how seriously we take building digital trust as we move forward with digital development. Further proof of this is our resolve to draw up the national digital security strategy. This strategy concerns you all and is everyone’s business.
Today’s workshop follows the various working sessions you have held with the ITU team and my teams, and aims to discuss the various contributions collected, with a view to defining the main priorities to be included in the national strategy document.
Before concluding my address, Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like you to observe with me that there are few women in this room. (We are in the month of March, and I believe that, more than in any other month of the year, I can challenge you, and all of us, on this point.) What is each of us doing to change this state of affairs?
My ambition in this area is great, because the stakes for our country and for the African continent are high and concern us all. My wish is that your discussions will not only address risks and threats, but above all focus on approaches to building strong digital trust. I know you are well prepared for this exercise, and I have no doubt that the various contributions will help to advance the discussion and to formulate relevant recommendations. I therefore wish you fruitful discussions and declare the workshop open.
Thank you.
All newsSpecial Prosecutor of the CRIET,
Ladies and Gentlemen, representatives of private sector organisations,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I welcome you to this consultation workshop and thank you for your presence and for the thorough preparation you have undertaken in order to play an active part in the discussions on the topics that will be presented in a few moments.
I would also like to welcome the representatives of the International Telecommunication Union, who have been with us for several days and with whom we have already been working remotely for some time. Dear partners, I would ask you kindly to convey my appreciation to the Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau and to the Secretary-General of the ITU for the promptness with which our request for assistance was handled and for the actions that followed from it.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
If each of the organisations and entities you represent here has made a point of taking part in this workshop, it is because you know how important security in cyberspace is. The stakes of information systems security are considerable: they concern the protection of our digital identities, our data, our infrastructure and, by extension, our activities, our businesses and our sovereignty. It is our duty to ensure that every Beninese citizen, every Beninese business and every public or private entity can feel safe when online, in the digital space, just as they feel safe in the physical space.
When a country is engaged in a far-reaching digital transformation, as we are in Benin, it is essential to build digital trust in order to foster the steady development of our digital economy. We must indeed take action so that fear of cyberattacks, of offences committed by unscrupulous individuals, or of penalties arising from a lack of knowledge of the regulations does not hold back the growth of digital usage.
We must therefore provide a comprehensive and coordinated response to the need for governance and steering of cybersecurity and cyberdefence in our country, and such a response can only come from the definition and adoption of our National Cybersecurity Strategy. It is with this in mind that we have undertaken the drafting of this strategy, in partnership with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
I am pleased to recall that this work on drafting our national digital security strategy will strengthen all the actions our country has already implemented, under the leadership of President Patrice Talon, to create a digital ecosystem based on trust:
- The adoption of Law No. 2017-20 on the “Digital Code”, a law which, among other things, establishes the framework for combating cybercrime and strengthening digital trust; and of course the outreach and awareness-raising activities on the provisions of the Digital Code
- The creation of the National Information Systems Security Agency (ANSSI) and the approval of the Agency’s statutes by the Council of Ministers in November 2018
- The existence of a computer security incident response team
- The construction of a national data centre
- The establishment of a national public key infrastructure system to further secure electronic transactions
Ladies and Gentlemen,
You will therefore readily agree with me that the Government has not given fresh impetus to the digital sector without assessing its implications for digital security. By way of illustration, the Estonian index shows that in Benin the gap between digital development and digital security is positive (11.15 points) https://www.ncsi.ega.ee/ncsi-index/ , reflecting the fact that these two areas are progressing at an almost equal pace, and thus showing how seriously we take building digital trust as we move forward with digital development. Further proof of this is our resolve to draw up the national digital security strategy. This strategy concerns you all and is everyone’s business.
Today’s workshop follows the various working sessions you have held with the ITU team and my teams, and aims to discuss the various contributions collected, with a view to defining the main priorities to be included in the national strategy document.
Before concluding my address, Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like you to observe with me that there are few women in this room. (We are in the month of March, and I believe that, more than in any other month of the year, I can challenge you, and all of us, on this point.) What is each of us doing to change this state of affairs?
My ambition in this area is great, because the stakes for our country and for the African continent are high and concern us all. My wish is that your discussions will not only address risks and threats, but above all focus on approaches to building strong digital trust. I know you are well prepared for this exercise, and I have no doubt that the various contributions will help to advance the discussion and to formulate relevant recommendations. I therefore wish you fruitful discussions and declare the workshop open.
Thank you.