Iran’s ICT minister addresses GCCS 2017 in India

According to ISNA, the complete speech made by Iranian ICT Minister is as follows:

In the name of God, most compassionate, most merciful

Let me begin by thanking the Indian Government for hosting the fifth Global conference on Cyberspace 2017 in this historic city.

We are grateful for the Indian hospitality accorded to us, and have enjoyed the opportunity to network with many participants and exchange our views and experiences.

Cyberspace is expanding at an accelerated pace, and the daily life of billions of people around the world is becoming more dependent on internet technologies and service. I am happy to inform you that during the past four years, we have increased our international internet capacity for domestic use by a factor of 15, increased the capacity of our internal IP network by a factor of 20, increased the number of broadband users by a factor of 10 and increased our north-south transit capacity by a factor of 15 as well.

Moreover, we now have 19 provincial data centers up and running, and e-service have increased three folds. More than 23,000 software development teams have been formed, 4500 start-up companies offered their products in Elecomp Exhibition 2017 in Tehran, and 150,000 new jobs were created. Local contents have increased 4 time, and while we have experienced a three folds increase in the market size for ICT related services and products, we have planned for another 3 folds increase in the next five years.

The Iranian nation is benefiting a lot from such expansions. More jobs are being created and the environmental impact is very encouraging. For example, due to the fact that ICT -based services are widely used, energy consumption per capital is significantly less as compared to situations where such services were not available.

For the next four years, in addition to aggressively expanding internet service and applications, we are determined to introduce new technologies and novel applications, such as LOT , cloud computing , Big data analytic s, artificial intelligence, smart cities, m-government, and enhance cyber-security. We believe all of the above provide us with exceptional opportunities for digital development, governance, and ease of living in Iran.

While undoubtedly there are many positive aspects of the internet, there are serious points of concern that should be addressed properly Today , we are witnessing that the internet and social media are being used from the outside to spread hate, to propagate false information to coordinate terrorism, and to call for violence.

Moreover respect for privacy on the internet is fast fading as personal information and preferences are Bing collected by many popular applications and search engines on an international scale for commercial purposes.

Such practices cannot be justified and there is a need to find proper and effective means to mitigate their undesirable impact. besides, cyber security is a very serious topic, and it is becoming more vital to ensure that cyber-attacks are dealt with effectively in a timely.manner.in addition, Fundamental concerns about privacy and data protection require a new vision on the boundaries between universal and international legal frameworks for applications and services on one hand, and the sovereign right of each country on the other hand.

We are hopeful that by way of international dialogue and joint action by various players and stakeholders, we can all enjoy from a better, safer, more secure, and more beneficial internet with significantly less negative side effects.

I welcome your views on your way forward, and thank you for your attention.