“Guatemala’s inclusion provides an important foothold in Central America, alongside the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Panama and El Salvador. In addition to strengthening bilateral cyber cooperation with Guatemala, we aim to increasingly utilize the sub-regional format LAC4 to facilitate the exchange of best practices between the EU and LAC, and within the Caribbean.” – Merili Soosalu, LAC Programme Lead
“The inclusion of Guatemala in the LAC4 initiative is a strategic point for the country to position itself in the region alongside countries such as the Dominican Republic or Costa Rica that have made significant progress in recent years, prioritizing social inclusion and highlighting the importance of all relevant sectors of our society getting involved in the development of cyber capabilities.” – Edie Cux, Coordinator and Executive Director of the Presidential Commission on Open and Electronic Government and member of the Modernization Committee of the Executive Branch of Guatemala.
“Cybersecurity is one of the key issues in the political dialogue and bilateral cooperation between Guatemala and the EU, which we will continue to support with various efforts at the regional and bilateral level. To this end, I want to emphasize the need to continue working for Guatemala’s accession to the Budapest Convention for the fight against cybercrime.” – Thomas Peyker, the Ambassador of the European Union in Guatemala.
Guatemala joining the LAC4 enables now bilateral cyber capacity building. During this week, the Presidential Commission, the Delegation of European Union to Guatemala and LAC4 co-organise a roundtable Dialogue Towards Digital Transformation which facilitates coordination among cross-sectoral stakeholders in Guatemala. The event kicks-off with a keynote on building a resilient digital society and focuses on how to succeed or fail in delivering value through cybersecurity governance. Keynote will be followed by a thematic sessions on national cybersecurity foundations to offer practical guidance and steerage for delivering cybersecurity efforts. LAC4 representatives will also meet with cybersecurity stakeholders of Guatemala such as governmental agencies, academia and private companies.
Background
Presidential Commission for Open and Electronic Government (Comisión Presidencial de Gobierno Abierto y Electrónico) is a special commission under the President of Guatemala to promote and coordinate open government principles, digital governance, transparency, citizen engagement and digital transformation.
Established in 2022 in Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic, LAC4 is the flagship initiative of the EU CyberNet. LAC4 serves as a training and knowledge hub for sharing expertise in cybersecurity and cybercrime. It also seeks to facilitate practical collaboration between the LAC region and the EU; promoting the benefits of an open, free and inclusive cyberspace, and enhance cyber capacities within the LAC region.
LAC4 has 10 members in addition to Guatemala, represented by respective national authorities or organisations: Antigua and Barbuda, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Estonia, Honduras, the Netherlands, Panama, Uruguay, pan-regional RedCLARA, and Cyber 4.0: Cyber Competence Center ( Italy).
