On 6 September, Tashkent hosted the 1st SCO Scientific and Expert Forum on Information Security at the initiative of President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev. The Forum was organised by the Institute of Strategic and Interregional Studies under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan in association with the Executive Committee of the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS).
The RATS Executive Committee platform drew a representative audience, including high-level government officials, academic experts and eminent personalities from the SCO member states. Minister for the Development of Information Technologies and Communications Sherzod Shermatov, Director of the SCO RATS Executive Committee Ruslan Mirzayev, SCO Deputy Secretary-General Grigory Logvinov, Director of the Institute for Strategic and Interregional Studies under the President of Uzbekistan Eldor Aripov, and Special Representative of the Russian President on International Cooperation in the Field of Information Security Andrei Krutskikh addressed the opening ceremony.
The Forum was held in three panel sessions:
·Expanding access to information as an important factor in the development of modern society;
·Information and ideological threats and developing effective response measures;
·Protecting critical information infrastructure in conditions of actively developing information and communication technology.