News item | 09-05-2016
Around 200 participants from the government, the private sector, research institutes and the technical community participated at the Expert Meeting on Cybersecurity in West Africa on 12 and 13 April 2016 in Dakar, Senegal. These included representatives from the Netherlands, Senegal, United States, India, European Union, African Union, UNODC and most ECOWAS countries. The focus of the panels and discussions during the two days was the need for countries in West-Africa to prioritize cybersecurity.

Dakar Declaration on Cybersecurity
The concrete result of the expert meeting was the announcement of the ‘Dakar Declaration on Cybersecurity’, which will be completed in the coming months. With this Declaration an agenda will be set for cyber capacity building with the following components: a) national cybersecurity strategies; b) Computer Security Incident Response Teams (CSIRTs); c) legal frameworks for cybersecurity; d) cybersecurity awareness and e) cybersecurity education. We call for the African Union and ECOWAS to support this Declaration and stimulate the follow-up process of this Declaration.
The report of the Expert Meeting is now available.
