On 18 February 2025, the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Latvia to the United Nations in new York, in cooperation with the Dominican Republic, the Republic of Indonesia, and the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR), held a thematic discussion on building national cybersecurity and incident response capacity.
Latvia’s experience of building national cybersecurity capabilities was presented by Edgars Kiukucāns, Director of the Cybersecurity Policy Department at the Ministry of Defence of Latvia, and Baiba Kaškina, Director of CERT.LV – the Cyber Incident Response Institution of the Republic of Latvia. The event was moderated by Jānis Kārkliņš, Ambassador at Large on UN Global Agenda at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Latvia.
The participants exchanged views on the key elements of an effective national approach to cybersecurity. Particular attention was paid to matters concerning the establishment and strengthening of cyber incident response institutions. The participants agreed on the need to provide an appropriate legal framework, define a clear mandate and mobilise the available resources, including financial and human resources. It is essential that incident response institutions act proactively, informing the public, building cooperation with national and sectoral authorities and taking preventive measures to identify and respond to cybersecurity risks.
The thematic discussion was a side-event to the 10th Substantive Session of the Open-ended Working Group on security of and in the use Information and Communication Technology (ICT). Its aim is to promote responsible national behaviour and respect for international law in cyberspace. An important line of action is the promotion of support for developing countries by strengthening their capacity to address cybersecurity threats and thus raising the overall global level of cybersecurity. Initiative by Latvia and other countries with robust cybersecurity architectures, while promoting the sharing of experience and best practice, makes a significant contribution to this effort in other regions of the world.
The event was implemented as part of the public diplomacy programme in support of the lobby campaign of Latvia’s candidacy for the United Nations Security Council. The campaign under the motto of “Together for peace and resilience” aims at ensuring that Latvia is elected to the United Nations Security Council for the 2026–2027 term. Membership of the UNSC will be a key instrument in pursuit and protection of Latvia’s foreign policy interests, as well as making it possible for Latvia to further expand its international cooperation thereby contributing to world peace and resilience.
