Singapore has assumed the Presidency of the Meridian Process, a platform for international collaboration on Critical Information Infrastructure Protection (CIIP).

The aims of the Meridian Process are to build trust and establish international relations among CIIP senior government policy makers; share experiences and good practices on CIIP from around the world; and to explore benefits and opportunities of cooperation between government and the private sector. It also provides a platform for discussing how governments and economies can work together to protect critical information infrastructures across borders.

As President of the Meridian Process, Singapore will be leading a Meridian Working Group to explore and develop opportunities for cross-border collaboration, said Mr Peter Ho, Head of Civil Service and Chairman of the National Infocomm Security Committee. Australia, Japan, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States have agreed to be members of the Working Group. Mr Ho was speaking at the Meridian Conference 2008, one of the key activities of the Meridian Process.

Mr Ho : No responsible government today can afford to ignore CIIP

Hosted by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore, Meridian Conference 2008 marked the first time the event was being held in Asia. The inaugural Meridian Conference was hosted by United Kingdom in 2005, followed by Hungary in 2006 and Sweden - immediate past president of the Meridian Process - in 2007.

Singapore was approached by United Kingdom and Hungary to host this year's event, with the view to tap on Singapore's Asian connections and location to increase the participation of Asian countries/economies in the Meridian Process.

The theme for this year's Meridian Conference was "CIIP Policies in Action". "While CIIP policies may be conceptually sound, more importantly, they should be practical and suitable for implementation in a real-world setting," said Mr Ho.

In his keynote address, he noted that interest in CIIP has been growing around the world. This stems from two key trends - the pervasiveness of information and communication technology (ICT) and the cross-border nature of cyber threats. "Many sectors critical to economic activity and social well-being, such as energy, finance and transport, depend heavily on ICT in their operations. Disruption and damage from a CII failure can result in the loss of millions if not billions of dollars, and even of lives. The consequences to nations are serious and potentially catastrophic, economically and from a national security perspective. No responsible government today can afford to ignore CIIP," he said.

Participation in the Meridian Process is open to all countries or economies, with senior government policy-makers participating in its activities such as the Programme and Editorial Committees, Working Groups and the annual Meridian Conference. The government officials organising and participating in Meridian activities typically come from national ICT authorities, lead agencies for key sectors and homeland security agencies.

Meridian meetings are held under the Chatham House Rule. This means that participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker, nor that of any other participant, may be revealed. The rule encourages openness and sharing of information and allows people to speak as individuals and encourages free discussion.

Besides facilitating information and experience sharing, Working Groups are formed to identify tangible work that needs to be done. For example, UK created and is maintaining the CIIP directory for the Meridian community to be able to quickly contact their international counterparts. Sweden is hosting a permanent website for Meridian and is leading a working group to develop CIIP best practices for process control systems.