Our mandate on digitalization

The forefathers of the OSCE included “technological co-operation on computer, communication and information technologies” as one of the elements of the economic and environmental security dimension of the Helsinki Final Act.

Technological co-operation was further emphasized in the Concluding Document of the 1989 Vienna Meeting, where participating States also stressed the impact of economic and technological change on the workplace, underlining their readiness to encourage co-operation in the field of vocational training.

Later Ministerial Council documents, such as the Bonn Document of 1990, the 2003 Maastricht Strategy Document, Ministerial Council Decision 11/06 on Future Transport Dialogue, and the Ministerial Council Decision 6/09 on Strengthening Dialogue and Co-operation on Energy Security, emphasized the benefits of environmental technologies and advanced energy technologies.

As a precursor to the Ministerial Declaration on the Digital Economy and the Decision on Human Capital Development in the Digital Era agreed upon in 2018 in Milan, references to the role of new and innovative technologies have been made in the 2012 Dublin Declaration on Strengthening Good Governance and Combating Corruption, Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism, and in Decision 6/14 on Enhancing Disaster Risk Reduction.