Enhancing Security Cooperation In and With Asia (ESIWA)

Summary

ESIWA (Enhancing Security Cooperation In and With Asia) is a project developed by the European Union and supported by the German Federal Foreign Office and the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs.

Details

Aim

The ESIWA project supports EU efforts to promote international law, norms of responsible state behaviour and security standards in cyberspace, and aims to strengthen cybersecurity cooperation.

Context

Cyber security is an integral part of European security. Malicious cyber activities targeting critical infrastructure constitute major global risk and can have a significant impact on energy grids, health care, transport and water systems. The trend towards ever more complex threats, such as highly sophisticated supply chain compromises, or even increased attack surface for malicious cyber activities, has created a need for more robust security frameworks. In order to address these and other challenges, the EU developed a new cybersecurity strategy in 2020. Sharing cyber security best practices and experiences between the EU and partner countries in Asia is one element which intends to enhance preparedness in the prevention, mitigation as well as by addressing these threats.

Outcomes

The project is designed to:

• support deeper and more operational security dialogues with partner countries (India, Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Singapore and Vietnam)
• promote greater convergence between the policies and practices of the EU and these partner countries in the field of security
• contribute to increasing international awareness and acknowledgment of the EU as a security provider

Activities

Activities have been tailor-made according to partner countries’ interests. The focus is on:

• promoting cyber diplomacy policies and standards
• advancing implementation of responsible state behaviour in cyberspace
• improving mutual understanding between countries on the application of international law on cyberspace
• encouraging the sharing of best practice and implementation experiences on confidence-building measures (CBM’s), to improve predictability and mutual understanding in State use of information and communication technologies
• fostering collaboration to respond to and mitigate cybersecurity risks
• raising awareness and understanding of the EU Cyber Diplomacy Toolbox
• strengthening abilities to counter malicious cyber activities, taking into account evolving cyber threat landscape

ESIWA works closely with EU cyber competent agencies and EU Member States. Cooperation activities with partner countries can be bilateral, multilateral and regional, and can take various forms from the exchange of experience or expertise, to field visits, training courses, and tabletop exercises.