WS #516 Bridging Silos in Global Digital Cooperation

Event desciption

The steady acceleration of digital transformation continuously challenges international negotiations on digital governance, demanding adaptive, inclusive, and cooperative diplomatic frameworks. While international cooperation efforts often operate in silos, effective digital governance requires structured dialogue fostering a transdisciplinary and multistakeholder approach, reflecting the multidimensional nature of digital technologies and their governance. As multiple negotiation tracks shape the future of cyber and tech diplomacy, this session explores how integration between international cooperation processes, alongside stronger multistakeholder engagement, can ensure a more coherent and effective approach to digital governance. This roundtable, organized under the EU Cyber Diplomacy Initiative, will examine how diplomacy in the digital domain is evolving across various platforms, including the UN Open-Ended Working Group (OEWG) on the security of and in the use of information and communications technologies (2021-2025), the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), the Global Digital Compact, and negotiations led by the technical community, such as the IETF and ICANN. These discussions often remain disconnected, leading to a fragmented discourse on how to align efforts across multiple diplomatic processes to ensure safe, open, and inclusive connectivity. This session will assess how policy coherence, accountability, and inclusivity can be enhanced by deepening multistakeholder involvement in decision-making and fostering greater coordination between technical and diplomatic communities. Bringing together policymakers, diplomats, industry representatives, civil society, and the technical community from diverse geographical perspectives, this discussion explores mechanisms for cross-regional cooperation, cybersecurity norm-building, and cyber capacity development. The interactive roundtable format will encourage meaningful dialogue between onsite and online participants, ensuring a balanced exchange of perspectives, particularly from underrepresented regions and communities. Aligning with the IGF 2025 subthemes of Digital Cooperation and Digital Trust & Resilience, this session critically assesses governance gaps and explore how diplomatic engagement, supported by stronger multistakeholder participation, can bridge policy silos and strengthen global cooperation.