Putin Writes Back To Brazilian Counterpart

Russian President Vladimir Putin counts on Brazil to back "The Principles Relating to International Information Security", the document Russia has submitted to the UN, says a message the President has written to reply to Brazilian counterpart Fernando Henrique Cardoso. The Kremlin press service has released the following excerpts from the message to RIA Novosti: "I have perused with interest your message dedicated to the outcome of the proceedings of the developing countries' meeting held in Rio de Janeiro on problems of international cooperation in the field of information technology and telecommunications. Russia views development and application of digital technology as instrumental in assisting developing countries in accelerating their rate of economic and social development. Bridging the so-called digital gap between the developed and the developing countries in the sphere of application of the technologies in question has been the recurrent theme on the Group of Eight agenda. We consider it important that the developing countries define as soon as possible their national priorities and optimal strategies in bridging the digital gap [and] seek a greater involvement in various authoritative international forums on issues of information and telecommunication technology. We believe, too, that there is another aspect to the problem of bridging the electronic and digital gap - the possibility of diverting the available resources to military purposes rather than purposes of development. This was one of the reasons that impelled us to put the issue of international information security on the UN agenda. Incidentally, Russia has submitted to the UN Secretary General a draft document [titled] "Principles Relating to International Information Security", which we feel could lay the foundations of the states' code of conduct for the global cyberspace. We count on support for this proposal and on further cooperation with developing nations on these issues. We feel that Brazil, as an active participant in Dotforce and the ICT Task Force of the ECOSOC, could play an important role in that process."