High-Level Discussion on AI and the Future of Sustainable Development: Innovation, Inclusion and Resilience (HLPF 2026 Side Event)

इसमें सिर्फ पानी की बोतल चाहिए हो सकती है इसलिए मैं यहाँ रखूँ।

नहीं नहीं अब नहीं चाहिए।

मंगवा दूँ?

नहीं बस है।

Thank you. Should I start? मुझे इस बता दो। पूछ के start करना? Good afternoon, everyone. Please settle down. We are just about to start. Excellencies, distinguished delegates, colleagues, young leaders, ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon and welcome to this high-level discussion on AI and the future of sustainable development. Innovation, Inclusion, and Resilience convened at the margins of the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development. This event is jointly organized by the Permanent Mission of Pakistan, the Permanent Mission of Tajikistan, and the Prime Minister Youth Program of Pakistan. Artificial intelligence is not waiting for the future. It is already reshaping the future and the present. Thank you, Mr. President. Our responsibility is to ensure that the future it creates is not only more intelligent but also more inclusive, equitable, and sustainable. Our discussion today brings together governments, the United Nations, the technology sector, and young people themselves who consider how AI can advance the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDG 9, while remaining safe, secure, trustworthy, and human-centric. Our first keynote speaker is Minister for Economy and Trade of Tajikistan, His Excellency Ramonov— Ramonov— His Excellency, you have the floor.

Thank you so much, Excellencies, distinguished colleagues. Ladies and gentlemen, it's a great pleasure to welcome you to this high-level discussion on AI and the future of sustainable development, innovation, inclusion, and resilience. I am pleased that the Republic of Tajikistan is co-hosting this important event together with the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the Prime Minister's Youth Program of Pakistan on the margins of the high-level political forum on Sustainable Development. At the outset, allow me to express my sincere appreciation to all distinguished participants for joining this important conversation on how artificial intelligence can contribute to sustainable development and accelerate progress towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. Excellencies, artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming the way we live, work, and develop our societies. It is already reshaping economies, supporting innovation, improving public services, and creating new opportunities for inclusive growth. When developed and applied responsibly, AI can contribute significantly to address some of our most pressing challenges, from improving healthcare and education to strengthening agriculture, enhancing disaster risk reduction, supporting climate resilience, and promoting more efficient public administration. In particular, AI can play an important role in advancing SDG 9 by fostering innovation, building resilience infrastructure, and supporting inclusive industrial development. At the same time, we must recognize that the benefits of artificial intelligence are not automatically accessible to all. For many developing countries, AI presents both a significant opportunity and a considerable challenge. Gaps in digital infrastructure, financing, data capacity, technological resources, and skilled human capital may further widen existing inequalities. Therefore, ensuring equitable access to AI technologies, strengthening capacity building, and promoting international cooperation must remain at the center of our collective efforts. Excellencies, for Tajikistan, digital transformation and innovation are among the key priorities of our national development agenda. At the initiative of the President of the Republic of Tajikistan, leader of the nation, His Excellency Mr. Emomali Rahmon, the years 2025-2030 have been declared the years of the development of the digital economy and In line with this strategic vision, Tajikistan became the first country in Central Asia to adopt a national artificial intelligence strategy until the period 2040. The strategy focuses on developing digital infrastructure, strengthening human capacity, promoting research and innovation, and ensuring the responsible and ethical use of artificial intelligence. To support economic growth and improve the quality of public services. Tajikistan attaches great importance to strengthening international cooperation in this area. We are proud that on July 2025, the United Nations General Assembly unanimously adopted the resolution entitled The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Creating New Opportunities for Sustainable Development in Central Asia. Initiated by the Republic of Tajikistan. This resolution represents an important contribution to global efforts aimed at ensuring that artificial intelligence becomes a driver of inclusive development, innovation, and shared prosperity, while ensuring that no country or region is left behind in digital transformation process. Building upon this achievement, Tajikistan is establishing the regional Artificial Intelligence Center for Central Asia, IT Hub Dushanbe. Construction officially commenced on June 9th, 2026. The center is envisioned as a regional platform for education, research, innovation, digital skills development, startup support, technology transfer, and international cooperation. We believe that this initiative can become an important platform for countries of Central Asia and the wider Global South to exchange knowledge, build capacities, and develop practical AI solutions to common development challenges. Excellencies, Tajikistan remains committed to working with Member States, the United Nations system, international organizations, academia, the private sector, and all relevant partners to advance an inclusive, secure, and human-centered approach to artificial intelligence. Together, through strengthened cooperation and shared commitment, we can ensure that artificial intelligence becomes a powerful tool for sustainable development, innovation, and prosperity for all. I thank you for your attention.

Thank you, His Excellency, for your valuable remarks and sharing excellent contributions made by Tajikistan in the field. Our next keynote speaker is Mr. Rana Mashood Ahmad Khan, who is the Chairman of Prime Minister Youth Program of Pakistan, which is working to equip young Pakistanis with education, skills, financing, digital access, and opportunities required to participate in an increasingly technologically driven economy. Chairman, you have the floor.

Thank you very much.

Excellencies, young leaders, ladies and gentlemen, it is a privilege to join you at the United Nations for this timely discussion on artificial intelligence and the future of sustainable development. I thank the Permanent Missions of Pakistan and Tajikistan, our distinguished speakers, and all partners who have joined us in advancing a conversation that will shape not only the future of technology but also the future of humanity. Artificial intelligence is already transforming how we learn, work, produce, innovate, and govern. It can help build resilient infrastructure, strengthen climate action, improve public services, enhance industrial productivity, and create new pathways for sustainable growth. Yet AI is not inherently inclusive. Its benefits will depend on the choices we make today. If access to technology, infrastructure, skills, finance, and data remain concentrated in a few countries and communities, artificial intelligence may widen the very inequalities that sustainable development seeks to overcome. We must therefore ensure that AI becomes a bridge to opportunity, not another barrier to progress. For Pakistan, this responsibility begins with our youth. Nearly 70% of our population is under the age of 30. They are not merely beneficiaries of development policies. They are the innovators, problem solvers, and leaders who will determine our future. Under the vision of Prime Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif, the Prime Minister's Youth Program is preparing young Pakistanis for an AI-driven economy through its 4 pillars of education, employment, engagement, and environment. The allocation of more than ₹60 billion for 2026-2027 reflects the government's commitment to enabling young people not only to seek jobs but to create solutions, build enterprises, address development challenges, and compete globally. More than 1.6 million laptops have been distributed, over 73,000 youth trained in artificial intelligence, blockchain, and data science, and more than 400,000 technical skills scholarships awarded across 8,000 courses supported by ₹14 billion under the Youth Skills Development Program. These efforts are reinforced by the Digital Youth Hub, Pakistan's first integrated national youth platform, which connects young people with jobs, internships, scholarships, skills, and entrepreneurship opportunities, and has already reached over 800,000 registered users, 1.6 million downloads, 1,14,000 job listings, and 3— more than 3,000 partner organizations. Pakistan National Artificial Intelligence Policy provides a roadmap for transforming the country into a knowledge-based economy. By 2030, Pakistan aims to train more than 2 million AI professionals, develop 10,000 trainers and educators, introduce AI education from school to university, establish AI centers of excellence, create a national AI fund, and strengthen university-industry collaboration. The AI for Youth program, launched in partnership with the Commonwealth Secretariat and Intel Corporation, is equipping young Pakistanis with knowledge of AI fundamentals, ethics, project development, and responsible innovation. The PMYP Stanford University AI Enterprise Product Program is further developing advanced AI capabilities among Pakistani MPhil and PhD scholars in science and technology. Indus AI Week Islamabad 2026 brought together policymakers, startups, academia, industry, and global technology partners through the National AI Summit, the AI Innovation Arena, policy dialogues, and skills sessions, demonstrating Pakistan's commitment to building an inclusive and globally competitive AI ecosystem. As we move forward, 4 priorities merit particular attention. First, we must bridge the AI divide. The international community must invest in digital infrastructure, affordable connectivity, computing capacity, and skills in developing countries. UN must advance concrete cooperation in this regard. Second, AI opportunities must become development outcomes. This requires scalable solutions, technical partnerships, and implementation support in areas directly linked to SDGs. Third, safe, secure, and trustworthy AI must be advanced through interoperable and development-sensitive frameworks that address risks such as algorithmic bias, disinformation, misinformation, privacy violations, cyber threats, and the malicious use of AI by different actors, including terrorists. For developing countries, this requires regulatory cooperation, risk assessment tools, and equitable participation in standards setting. Safety must build trust, not barriers. Finally, AI must remain human-centered and locally relevant. It must not become a tool of technological monopoly. This requires transparency, human oversight, and AI systems that reflect linguistic, cultural, and regional diversity. Ladies and gentlemen, the global AI divide cannot be bridged through declarations alone. It requires sustained investment, equitable access, and genuine international cooperation. Therefore, we believe that the true measure of artificial intelligence will not be the sophistication of its algorithms, but the lives it improves. Not the wealth it generates for a few, but the opportunities it creates for many. Let us build an AI future in which innovation advances equality, technology serves humanity, and every young person, regardless of geography, gender, or economic circumstances, has the opportunity to learn, create, and lead. The future of artificial intelligence is still being written. Let us ensure that young people are not merely mentioned in its pages, but are among its principal authors. I thank you all.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chairman, for reminding us that young people must not merely adapt revolution; they must be empowered to shape and lead it. Now, we move on to our panel discussion.

We will—

our panel brings together perspectives from United Nations development system, the private technology sector, and young people themselves. Our first panelist is Ms. Jennifer Lui, an AI Trust and Safety Advisor at the Digital AI and Innovation Hub of United Nations Development Programme. How can AI accelerate the implementation of SDG 9, particularly in developing countries? And how can member states translate the work of the Independent International Scientific Panel on AI and the Global Dialogue on AI Governance into practical measures that bridge AI capacity gap and address the social and economic impacts of AI for developing countries. You have the floor.

Thank you, Excellencies, distinguished delegates, guests, colleagues, but especially our youth leaders. Thank you for the chance to speak on this. These questions will essentially shape the next decade of our development as much as any trade agreement or climate accord. But really, the question is, how do we make artificial intelligence work for the countries that use it faster than they build it. Of the world's most powerful computing infrastructure, 3/4 of it sits in only one country, this country, and the rest of it falls as a second to that. Almost every leading AI model in the world today was built in one of those 2 places. And so, it's not a criticism of what's happening but more a description of where we stand currently. And so, for the greater majority of UN member states, the central question is not how do we build the next frontier of AI. It really is about how do we make sure the frontier benefits actually reach us? How do we improve it when it makes errors? How do we ensure it aligns with our national development goals? The independent scientific panel's preliminary report gave us the evidence base to answer that question honestly. Its warning is very direct. Our safeguards are not keeping pace with AI's growth. And the gap in access in compute, in skills, in infrastructure risks exacerbating the inequalities into the next generation of global development rather than closing it. And UNDP is in this unique position where we often play this role not only helping build national strategies with countries, but also we try to evaluate those things, build insights around it, and also bridge the communication gaps that exist globally around it. And so, we try to translate these global commitments into concrete actions on the ground as we design policies, mobilize financing, and strengthen the infrastructure and build strategies around this. So, one key example of how member states turn the global dialogue and AI International Scientific Panel's insights into this is by partnering on things such as AI landscape assessments. And I'll share with you some of the things that we've learned after conducting about 25 of these around the world with varying member states. In many contexts, AI adoption and governance rarely happens in a single national decision or in clearly identifiable deployment moments. So, governance decisions are increasingly made through these accumulated operational choices distributed across many, many different decision makers. This might be in procurement. This might be enterprise software. It might be vendor platforms, digital infrastructure, And also institutional workflows. So, really, the question is not so much about AI alone. It's how it is systems integrated, right? We looked at a lot of systems engineering questions. As AI diffuses through public and economic systems, these adoption and implementation choices will shape societal outcomes just as much as frontier model development itself. And we try to help translate those into warnings and concerns to improve AI decision-making and AI ecosystem building. I have a question. I'm curious how many of you feel that you can make confident AI decisions? Raise of hands. Several of you. How many of you feel that you can do that for the entirety of your nation? Okay. We have one person.

Right?

It's a very confident perspective. But in general, I think that's what we're seeing governments really grapple with, that these micro decisions have repercussions and they're trying to evaluate what it is that ripple effect will look like. There's a lot of anticipatory grief. There's a lot of concerns as the measurable outcomes are not yet realized. And there's not really a good anchor point for that yet. So, in trying to consider the consequences of it, we really must consider how it is that governance will be made through micro decisions that probably many of you in this room are already making, even if you're not calling it a governance decision yet. So, firstly, I'd like to say what translating evidence into practice looks like. And let me offer 3 concrete examples and directions. First, infrastructure that serves resiliency and not just innovation. So, a lot of it is that we talk a lot about compute, but we often don't consider how it is that it's used. So, UNDP's RapidAssist system, which is combining AI along with satellite imagery and community surveys, has already delivered post-disaster assessments within 72 hours in more than 20 countries. So, for example, in Afghanistan, We've helped more restore infrastructure access to 350,000 people after the 2025 earthquake. And we just recently deployed that again in Venezuela after the June earthquakes. And so, this is showing how AI directly protects roads, bridges, water systems. And now, we see that we're advising countries on looking into how it is that AI tools like this can use— be used to detect potential disasters or infrastructure weaknesses before disasters happen. preparing them in advance, strengthening them, so making sure that they're not just exceptions in emergency situations. Second, the compute and skills question. Now, a lot of it is that there isn't necessarily compute power within each country to the capacities that we need it to be. But a lot of things can also be built off of CPUs. In this, the AI Hub for Sustainable Development, which is a UNDP project launched recently with the government of Italy, is already supporting 18 African countries to support green compute, data, talent, and enabling environments through an AI infrastructure builders program as well as through a compute accelerator. And by sharing these best practices, but really by running on lean AI architecture, using compute efficiently, and even using the same architecture and infrastructure rather than each nation trying to negotiate this alone, we find that things are more cost-effective and people are working smarter and not harder. Third, and perhaps most important, Most of us in this room, again, are not going to be building these frontier models. We are the adopters. And UNDP's work across more than 50 countries shows something the global conversation often misses. The governance is not only decided in one moment. We are being decided in many smaller choices. And in that, it will actually be these micro-governance choices that you're making, whether or not you call it that or not. And those choices will essentially, especially amongst youth, the types of decisions about when to use it, how to use it, when it's appropriate to use, and what answers you're going to get out of it and how it will be applied are increasingly going to matter over time. And so, for member states, the translation of these principles and research from the International Scientific Panel and the Global Dialogue on AI Governance is really trying to give all institutions the capacities reflected in things like our AI Trust and Safety Programs, which UNDP launched about a year and a half ago. Really, we're trying to build the technical literacy The implementation guidelines, and ways that people can make confident decisions over time, how to improve AI in context-related environments, in localized ways, to make sure that these are knowledgeable, informed choices about AI use. The Global AI Dialogue told us what the governments have already been kind of telling us all along, which is that people are our priority and that we need to put them at the center of this. Thank you.

Thank you for your insightful remarks. In fact, grounding the global conversation on AI governance is essential, and we need to work together more on it. Now I invite Mr. Hashim Saeed, who is a leader in technology, and he works with Google's AI, and he's a go-to-market lead. My question to you is, how can AI strengthen public service delivery and ensure social inclusion in developing countries? And what safeguards and partnerships are required to address cybersecurity threats, disinformation, data privacy concerns, algorithmic biases, misuse of AI by malicious actors? You have the floor.

Distinguished guests, Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, it is a profound honor to address you today at the United Nations Headquarters. Before we discuss the transformative trajectory of artificial intelligence, I want to express my deepest gratitude to every single person in this room, all the visionaries, all the dignitaries who made this crucial dialogue possible. First, my sincere thank you to the Permanent Mission of Pakistan and the Permanent Mission of Tajikistan for convening us to address one of the most defining socioeconomic opportunities and questions of our generation. I must also extend a special tribute to the Prime Minister's Youth Program of Pakistan. Having worked closely with youth initiatives and with the technology ecosystem on the ground, I can firsthand say that aligning national policy global cooperation and youth empowerment is a direct engine for which how we truly transform AI opportunities and advancements in the future. The core question of this panel is how can we really strengthen our public service delivery and social inclusion without leaving vulnerable groups behind? To answer this, I think we have to look to the United Nations' own milestone priorities on AI governance. The UN's Global Dialogue on AI Governance and Independent International Scientific Panel on AI have both warned us that when technological capabilities are heavily concentrated, global inequalities only widen. So, to prevent this, we have to treat AI not as a tool for automation, but as a bridge for opportunity, inclusion, and growth. And that means a transition from passive consumption of global technologies to active, localized, sovereign solutions. The bridge has to be anchored across 3 pillars in the innovation ecosystem. To start with, startups. Startups and entrepreneurs, as many in this room and as we know, are the fastest way to localize problem-solving. They represent the engine for our economies. They are value creators. They create new opportunities for growth, for employment, for economic empowerment, and we have to work with startups at the ground level to ensure that they have the best access to infrastructure, to models, to applications, to truly be able to lift countries and civic societies into a next wave of innovation. On the other end, we have enterprise. AI adoption in mature sectors is yielding massive economic gains. We've done some— Google has done some research with PwC, and we've highlighted that by integrating public and private partnerships through AI, we can boost public sector productivity up to almost 10%. And that is only at the start. And there's so many other ways which we can improve empowerment inside of companies, but also reduce public deficits. And I think one of the other areas in which we can massively do a lot of work is through academia. And I think of academia as the pipeline. While 70% of business leaders view AI-skilled workforce as vital, only 14% of workers have actually globally have received formal and true AI training. So, we have to bridge this gap through academia and enterprise to ensure that hands-on practical skills inside of companies are really being deployed. So, they all the way from graduates right to C-suite executives are ready to enter the workforce before they even start. At Google, we believe that true democratization means giving local talent the skills to build their own keys. And we've scaled this commitment globally, but I'm going to share with you a couple of highlights and things that we've done in Pakistan. So, for example, in Pakistan, we have launched something called AI Seekho. This is aligned to the government's visionary national AI policy. To train 1 million AI professionals by 2030. Through AISequoia, we launched a nationwide Vibe Coding competition to train up to 100,000 young Pakistani developers on the future of AI, agentic engineering, AI agent orchestration, building real-time applications. And if you haven't looked, I would highly encourage every single person in this room to please have a look online at some of the exceptional case studies. We have young people building real-time applications that are now being deployed inside of organizations in and outside of Pakistan across healthcare, finance, tech, and also government. Second, active governance. We are proving and trying to work and work with the government to ensure that the public-private partnership is a shared cooperation and not just a single entity. Just this month, we met with the Sindh provincial cabinet and participated in an interactive workshop and conversation around how do they use Google AI. We looked at use cases of where they can use Gemini Live, from anything from note-taking and productivity enhancements inside of the ministries to looking at how can they use NotebookLM and NotebookLM Enterprise and AI agents to automate some of the manual work that takes place inside of ministries. We are also heavily engaged with the Punjab government right now, looking at how do we improve AI in the workplace to ensure that every single person is trained and upskilled through AI in that area. I think there's another area here of, you know, there's a critical responsibility of safeguards, and that is we cannot protect our citizens from cybersecurity threats, disinformation, algorithmic bias through just restrictive regulation alone. I think safeguards have to be secure by design. And to do that, to tackle bias, and I think a point was raised in the conversation about how do we ensure that bias doesn't carry through, let's say, Western or Eastern-generated models, We are working on, and we've recently announced something called the AI Sprinters Framework. This is our advocate, and this is our view for how we can work with national governments to build localized representative datasets to ensure public tools really truly represent accuracy and fairly reflect the communities that they serve. We are also working through different organizations across the world through the Google Skills Certificate to ensure that we are training as many people as possible online. The majority of our certifications are actually free, and that is designed entirely intentional because we believe that the true power of AI should not be restricted into the hands of the few, but should be intelligence for the many, and to ideally create a resilient and AI-literate citizenry capable of naturally navigating the different ways in which we can advance our digital future. Excellencies, I think the Islamabad AI Declaration, as well as the UN's AI goals, have made it clear that developing nations are ready to step forward, are actively leading as equal partners in this digital revolution. We believe that the ultimate bridge to opportunity is enabling local capacity and giving it a bridge to the world. When we empower local startups to scale, enable enterprises to adapt, and support academia to teach, we aren't just deploying technology. We are giving emerging nations the tools to write their own futures, secure their own systems, and drive a sustainable global economy. Thank you all and appreciate the time.

Thank you.

Thank you, Hashim, for sharing your valuable ideas and examples how AI is transforming lives, in particular in developing countries. Our last panelist is Ms. Bisma Qamar, a youth delegate of Pakistan. Ms. Bisma, from the perspective of young people, what role can national youth programs, innovation funds, and entrepreneurship platforms play in enabling youth to develop and scale up AI-based solutions to national and global challenges, in particular in development? You have the floor.

Yes. Distinguished guests, Excellencies, and all the youth representatives who are present here today, a very warm good afternoon to all of you. Before I begin, I would like to really extend my warm appreciation to the leaders in the room from the Permanent Mission of Pakistan, Tajikistan, and of course, the Prime Minister's Youth Program for enabling this conversation to even take place. I believe that this is what true empowerment looks like, the fact that we all are sitting and we are talking about this. Once again, thank you for creating the space for us. When we talk about AI, I believe that the question is not just about that, what and how we will shape the future, but it's perhaps that who will have the opportunity to shape that future when it comes to utilizing AI. Because when we talk about youth, they have the capability, creativity, they have the digital fluency and the adaptability to probably solve humanity's greatest challenges, from climate action to healthcare to education. But often all these fresh ideas and these young innovators get excluded because they don't find platforms to actually take that forward. That is the biggest challenge we face, not just across in one country, but across all member states. As a representative from the Prime Minister's Youth Program myself, and as a Gen Z speaking here today, I have been working and affiliated with the Prime Minister's Youth Program, which has been focusing not just on creating initiatives, but actually bridging the gap between talent and opportunity. Providing and curating such platforms that allow young people not only to just come speak or be observers, but be active and passive people who contribute to these policies as well. So, Miss, when we talk about these platforms, I think it's very important that we bring in such initiatives and we just don't let them go on till the national or institutional level, but we talk about it on grassroots levels as well, because Ideas are not bound to race, ethnicity, gender, or especially the country you're living in as well. It's bound to, of course, the talent that we need to bring forward. Under Prime Minister's Youth Program, we have been taking a few initiatives that I would like to just reinforce what my chairman already spoke about. The National Youth Council bringing together 100 members from across the country and not just to give them a notification, but actually give them a space where they can contribute to the Prime Minister's Advisory Board. When we talk about our Digital Youth Hub, we have curated a platform which brings together all such opportunities and ideas that people can bring together in a digital format as well. We also have these Young Innovation Awards. So we also have this annually in which we allow people to come pitch their ideas and of course gain access to funding. Because we all know that funding is almost the most biggest challenge that youth face. So such initiatives, including the Green Youth Movement, the Core Volunteer Programs, these are all focused on utilizing AI and such technologies to improve systems and improve the challenges that we are already facing. Because when we talk about access, it should not only be bound to certain areas or certain age, it should be open to all accessibilities. And Excellencies, history will not remember the speed of AI that we adapted towards, but history will remember that how we had the courage to include the young people while we were adapting AI. And I believe that's the message that I really would like to focus on today, because let's choose connection over contribution. Let's choose investment over hesitation. And let's please choose inclusion over exclusion when it comes to ideas and innovation. And the possibility of AI shaping the future, because it is not just a matter of the future anymore. It is about where we're standing here today is the past, is the present, and we all are here to contribute with the future. And my last message would be that this is something we really need to adapt towards, but we cannot leave the youth behind because we are all equal when it comes to ideas and talent. So thank you so much once again, and thank you for this amazing event.

Thank you. Thank you, Bisma, for reminding us that youth is not only the beneficiary of technological progress, they are the innovators, partners, and architects of its future. I would like to thank all our panelists for their rich and thought-provoking contributions. We will now open the floor for questions and answers and interventions from the floor. floor. Before we start off with the question and answer from the floor, I would like to give the floor to the delegations which have requested for the floor. We would like to give the floor first to the Permanent Representative of Kazakhstan. Sir, you have the floor.

Thank you very much, Madam Saima, for giving the floor and I would like to thank the organizers of today's event, my dear friends, the permanent representatives of Tajikistan and Pakistan, for convening this timely and important discussion. And warm welcome to the dignitaries, ministers who are here with us and giving us very substantial statements. We— I'm very much inspired by the fact that Our countries are working very actively in this particular sphere, AI sphere, which has really shaped the future of our nations. And thank you very much for all the statements which we heard today. Artificial intelligence, together with the digital infrastructure that supports it, has become one of the defining indicators of economic development, technological advancement, and national competitiveness. Ensuring equitable access to AI capabilities is therefore not only a matter of technology, it is also a prerequisite for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Kazakhstan recognized this trend early and has made artificial intelligence and digital transformation central pillars of its national development strategy. Today, Kazakhstan is a digital and AI hub that is rapidly emerging as a technological center in the wider Asia-Pacific region. Our digital transformation has produced quite tangible results. According to the latest United Nations e-government survey, Kazakhstan ranks 10th globally in the Online Services Index and 24th in the e-government development index. We have built one of the region's most advanced digital public infrastructure ecosystems, including the national data lake, AI-powered public services through e-government.gpt, and a digital ecosystem connecting thousands of public and private services. These achievements have received international recognitions, including the GovTech Prize and the Future of Government Awards. Today, my country has established a comprehensive AI ecosystem. It is built on 2 national AI supercomputers based on NVIDIA technologies, a successfully piloted national large language model, the International AI Development Center Alimai, Astana Hub, the largest international technological park in our region. We're investing heavily in AI education, as it was already mentioned here, research and talent development to ensure that our people remain at the center of the AI transformation. Kazakhstan is also actively contributing to global AI governance. We are among the founding members of the Global AI Capacity Development Network, while ASTANA Hub is a founding member of the Global Network of Centers for Exchange and Cooperation on AI Capacity Building, launched in Geneva just last week. This year, the member states of UNSCAPP also decided to establish the Asia-Pacific Digital Solutions Center Sustainable Development in Almaty. We see this new UN platform as an important mechanism for sharing digital public infrastructure, AI-enabled public services, and GovTech solutions across the Asia-Pacific region, while strengthening regional cooperation and digital capacity building. Kazakhstan believes that AI should unite rather than divide. We are already sharing our GovTech solutions and digital public infrastructure with partner countries in the region and in African region, and stand ready to expand this cooperation with all interested member states. Developing countries should not merely adopt artificial intelligence, they should actively shape its future. Kazakhstan remains committed to strengthening international cooperation, sharing its experience, and working with all partners to ensure that AI becomes a driver of inclusive growth, sustainable development, and shared prosperity. I thank you.

Thank you, the Permanent Representative of Kazakhstan, for your valuable comments and sharing the progress made by Kazakhstan in AI and digital technology. Now, I have the honor to give the floor to Deputy Permanent Representative of China.

Thank you very much, Mrs. Sahma, and thank you very much to the mission, the permanent mission of Pakistan and also Tajikistan for hosting this timely event. And we welcome Minister of Tajikistan and also the Chairperson of the Prime Minister's Youth Office of Pakistan to join us in this very hot topic. I heard a lot of the panelists speaking very passionately about the AI, how AI can boost the youth development, how AI can change the developing countries' lives. I was very impressed. I saw Ambassador Asim has been taking notes, and I think he is also Very impressed as well, especially from the youth delegates from Pakistan. As we deliberate on AI and the future of sustainable development, China recognizes both the immense potential and the profound responsibilities that come with this transformative technology. For developing countries, the promise of AI lies not in automation alone, but in its power to leapfrog traditional development barriers. In China, we have witnessed how AI accelerates inclusive industrialization. Our intelligent manufacturing systems have boosted efficiency by over 30% while cutting defects by half in many sectors, directly advancing SDG Goal 9. At the same time, we are deploying AI to strengthen climate resilience, from precision agriculture that optimizes water usage to disaster early warning systems that protect vulnerable communities. Our digital public service platforms now reach more than 90% of rural populations, ensuring that even remote areas benefit from AI-enabled healthcare, education, and financial inclusion. These efforts demonstrate that AI can reduce rather than widen the digital divide, provided that the infrastructure investment and the capacity building reach the margins. But technology alone is not enough. The central question is how we equip, equip the next generation to lead this transformation. China has introduced a national AI curricula in thousands of schools and established youth innovation funds that have nurtured over 10,000 AI-driven startups. We believe young people are now just— are not just beneficiaries, but co-creators of the AI era, and they need not only skills, but also platforms, mentorship, and financing to turn ideas into impact. We also take seriously the governance and ethical dimensions. China has enacted comprehensive legislation on data protection and algorithmic accountability, and we positively contribute to the independent International Scientific Panel on AI. We advocate for a people-centered approach that prioritizes transparency, security, and fairness while working with partners to counter cyber threats, disinformation, and algorithmic bias. We also believe that international cooperation through knowledge exchange, public-private partnership, and the North-South, South-South, and Triangle cooperation is essential to ensure that no country is left behind in shaping or benefiting from AI. China has proposed a global AI governance initiative and launched capacity-building programs for developing countries. I'm glad to hear China is working very closely with the countries present today in today's conference. Let us also work together to ensure that AI becomes a force for inclusive, resilient, and sustainable development for all. With the theme of Intelligent Partners: Co-Creating the Future, the 2026 World AI Conference and a high-level meeting on global AI governance will be held in Shanghai from July 17th to 20th. Through this conference, China looks forward to building a platform for various parties to enhance mutual trust, pull consensus, and deepen cooperation so as to promote the sound, safe, and orderly development of AI. I thank you.

Thank you, Ambassador, for sharing the valuable contributions made by China in the field of advancing AI and digital technologies. Now, I would like to give the floor to Azerbaijan.

Thank you. Thank you, Madam Moderator. Let me begin by congratulating the Permanent Mission of Pakistan, the Prime Minister's Youth Program of Pakistan, and Permanent Mission of Tajikistan for organizing this timely an important side event. This topic before us goes— today goes to the heart of 2030 Agenda. And as the concept note rightly notes, artificial intelligence is transforming how societies plan, produce, and deliver services. And its relevance to SDGs and SDG 9 on resilient infrastructure, inclusive industrialization, and innovation could not be more direct. We're especially inspired by the efforts of the organizing countries. Pakistan's investment in youth-centered digital and entrepreneurship programs and Tajikistan's growing engagement with international AI governance agenda reflect exactly the kind of forward-looking, youth-driven leadership that today's discussions call for— calls for. These national efforts, together with this event's focus on placing young people at the center of the AI-driven development offer a model that other developing countries can learn and benefit from. Allow me to briefly share where Azerbaijan stands. Over the past year, our government has moved decisively to institutionalize AI as a matter of national policy. President Aliyev approved a national artificial intelligence strategy for 2025-2028, And in February of this year, the Digital Development Council, chaired by Vice President, to coordinate an action plan comprising of 58 initiatives across digitalization, AI innovation, and cybersecurity. On skills and youth, Azerbaijan is establishing an artificial intelligence academy to train hundreds of engineers to build a national AI community. Of several thousands of practitioners alongside a dedicated AI research laboratory lab to nurture homegrown innovation and startups. On public service delivery and digital divide, our My Government e-government platform now serves millions of citizens, backed by a new national data center and government cloud migration efforts designed to make, to make AI-enabled services more accessible. On governance, ethics, and security, the very concern the concept raises around bias, disinformation, and misuse, we're advancing a comprehensive legal reform touching dozens of laws to define AI, cybersecurity, and technology transfer in law for the first time, alongside dedicated AI security standards and risks protocol. We look forward to deepening cooperation with Pakistan, Tajikistan, and all partners in this room so that no country and no young person is left behind in this AI-driven economy. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Azerbaijan, for sharing your contributions. Let's take 2, 3 questions from the floor, given the paucity of time. Yes, anyone who wants to ask a question, please introduce yourself and then ask the question.

Yes.

All right.

Hello.

Can you guys hear me?

Yes. Okay. So my name is Subhan Malik.

Good afternoon, everyone. First of all, thank you for providing us with this valuable platform and the opportunity to engage in such an important discussion. My question is directed to the distinguished delegation of Tajikistan. I really appreciate your remarks on the importance of innovation and inclusive development, particularly your emphasis on ensuring that technological progress benefits everyone.

Building on that point, how can we ensure that the AI revolution does not further widen the digital divide between developed and developing nations?

Next question.

Yeah, sure. Good afternoon. My name is Advait. I am from the United States where I am the founder of an organization named Govinform where we aim to help the youth, especially with civic engagement and civic awareness. And now that work has given me quite an opportunity to look at what the youth believe in, especially when it comes to the future of AI. And what I've seen is simply that youth are very excited about the possibilities. and want to have a voice in it, but a lot of times they don't know how or have little motivation to do so. So how can we improve these things? How can we make it so that the youth that want things to change but don't know how or have— don't know the clear path to do it, how can we incorporate them in the whole process? Thank you.

Thank you. One more question and then we go to our panelists.

Yes.

This is Qasim from Neural Lab. We had the opportunity to connect a few times virtually to discuss some proposals and projects for the development sector. So, as an AI consulting firm, when we connect with the institutions that are looking to adapt AI frameworks, we realize that sometimes they don't have the internal capacity to assess the positive impacts or the fruitful impacts. And it's sort of a trend right now that everyone wants to jump onto this AI train without fully understanding the positive and the negative impacts of it. So my question to you is that for young entrepreneurs like me or like the startup that we have, if you want to work with the organizations like the UNDP or into the multilateral space that are building these frameworks that can translate into tools for the government within the AI space? What's the opportunity that we have? And this will be helpful in a way as well to leverage the experience that we have at the very, you know, low level where an individual user is trying to use the AI in a day-to-day. manner. And this will be helpful in a way in developing this ecosystem, not just as a recipient of this framework, but also as a contributor that can, you know, help us develop a sustainable solution. Thanks.

Can we go to our panelists or take one more question and then maybe— anyone, please?

Good afternoon, everyone. Your Excellency, ladies and gentlemen, my name is The Aung Hwan. I'm a delegation from Myanmar and currently studying public policy at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. It's a great honor to have a chance to speak at this space. Before I actually bring a question here, I really want to mention about, you know, what Ms. Basma just mentioned. You know, the history will remember how, you know, young people adopt the AI, and actually this really resonated with me so much, so thank you for, you know, such word. So I'm actually coming from Myanmar. You know, the country was taken over by a military regime in 2021 by the military coup, and development, you know, has been a very— it was deteriorated since 5 years ago. That was also including for digital innovation and transformation. And, uh, uh, Your Excellency, Excellency just also mentioned about, you know, the AI divide. And again, like, this really, really kind of made me, you know, really sentimental, you know, the feelings here that because, you know, education is the most important driver here for the young people, especially, you know, like turning the young people not just for the beneficiaries but the crucial adopter and the innovator of AI transformation here. So just, you know, keeping it short, my question here is, you know, how can we address— how we can address the vulnerable and marginalized young people, especially from these kind of conflict affected countries or least developed nations having the opportunity to access, adopt, and innovate AI transformation, and deterring the further digital divide, and fulfilling the promise and the mission of leaving no one behind.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And now we go back to our keynote speaker and the panelists, and I would request you to respond to whichever question you wish. To start off with, Chairman.

Thank you very much for the first question. For Tajikistan, for AI and its development, as we know, the world has changed. If you took the last 10 years and now, so there is very changes. For such countries as Tajikistan, we are the developing country. If you take the real growth of the GDP for the last year in 2025, it was around 8.4%. But I think even the development, even the AI, so there will be equal opportunities for the future of the growing of the economies for the developing countries. We are not only a developing country, but we are a double landlocked country with 93% of mountainous of Tajikistan. So I think here we will be equal opportunity to give equally for AI and even for the growing economies such as Tajikistan.

Thank you. Thank you.

Yes.

Yeah.

So the—

to the question, the thing is that when I was talking—

it's on. Yeah.

So when we were talking about the 4 priorities that I had mentioned, it encompasses that what the gentleman was talking about. So first of all, we must bridge the AI divide, and for that what we have to do is we must invest in digital infrastructure. And we are sitting in UN headquarters, so what we want from and what are— what we are thinking of is that UN must invest in the progress of the different countries. It has to be centralized. It has to be— because we have to deliver for the youth of the world. Because when we talk about youth, it has to be a unified curricula, unified syllabus regarding AI, and as per the needs of the localities. So we are working on it, and we are very hopeful that today's— this meet will pave the way for these 4 priorities that we have mentioned. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Our panelists, who would like to respond?

Ashim?

Sure, happy to kick things off.

Sorry about that.

So, I'd like to answer and maybe address some thoughts around 2 areas that were raised, one around youth empowerment and second around AI governance. So, I'll start with the governance piece. So, I think the most important thing that, you know, needs to come out is clear observability and traces of model— of the outputs of models. So, for example, anyone that's used the latest Gemini models, for example, Nano Banana, making, for images or videos using Omni and Veo, you'll always see like a Gemini icon. And that's basically a synthetic ID. So that means that the user that is observing and reviewing the AI-generated content has a clear indication that yes, this was AI-generated content. So I think it's very important to ensure that the governance piece comes through in the exports of AI-generated content. Second thing we're working on a lot with a lot of different customers, both at startups, enterprise, and governments, is around observability. You know, there's this whole idea that AI agents, we need to now see them as virtual coworkers or virtual colleagues. But to do that, you know, the same way that you talk to an employee or one of your human colleagues, you'd ask, you know, what did you do today? Can you talk me through your work? And, you know, can you show me the methods that you work through? So, we're working with a lot of companies to help them understand the observability of agents. You know, so agents all have like an ID of their own, similar to the same way that employees have, you know, like a virtual badge so that when corporations employ AI agents inside of the organization, you can very clearly articulate and see what action did the AI agent take, what was the result of that, and then you can trace that back. I think where the real, you know, sort of magic and excitement of this conversation is really around youth empowerment. And I'm a big believer that AI is here for all and should be for everybody. And I think we see that, right? You see the plethora of models being generated, whether it's frontier closed models or open source models. The reality is that anyone and everyone now should be a developer. So whilst we have incredible programs coming down as part of national AI skills training from governments or from, you know, corporations like Google or others all over the world through AI skills and training, we have a program called Build with AI. It's live in over 100, over 100 countries. It's a free open-source network and framework to help people train and upskill themselves through AI. But the best way people can learn is by actively using the tools and using the models themselves. And I think that is the real key message that whoever you do interact with, whoever you do meet, we really help them and empower them, encourage them, you know, go experiment, go experience, go experiment with AI, build an agent, ask it to teach you how you can improve your professional skills, your career, and your language. And that's where I think we'll really see the magic, is that AI is here for everybody and for all. Thank you.

Thank you. Jennifer, briefly, if you would like to add something.

Certainly. Thank you so much for your question. I think you're highlighting— and I think this is coming to the nexus of how you get youth involved as well, to your question as well. Really, at the nexus of this is youth unemployment rates, which are on the rise. There are deep concerns about essentially how it is that entrepreneurs will essentially access contracts And part of that is that we don't have a lot of good, strong externalized procurement practices, for example. So, you're not even sure exactly what you're up against, what kind of requirements that you would need to build for. And so, that is certainly a responsibility of both member states and also organizations to externalize our procurement practices, make those visible so it's more fair and more accessible to determine how it is that you're building, who it is you're building for, under what requirements. and under what kind of jurisdictional laws that you have to be adhering to. So, thank you for both highlighting that. And I will also admit that even our own organization here is still kind of working through what those procurement practices need to be. Part of it is because AI fit for purpose is actually quite difficult to navigate. And so, as we kind of balance general-purpose AI and then also kind of more specifically used AI, we haven't entirely established that and codified that. And so, in some ways, there's a little bit of insecurity about externalizing something that is moving so quickly. So, we are taking it very much on a case-by-case basis, but we have an amazing procurement team who is working on that, and their responsibility is to do that. And we see that also being a struggle amongst many member states, that even as we talk to our counterparts in the EU. And then, in terms of youth unemployment, I think that we see that that is a guiding factor on why it is that youth need to be involved. In the determination of governance practices with AI now. It will ultimately shape what jobs will be available to you, what will be expected out of those jobs, what education needs to lead to those jobs. And so, I think making it quite personal, but we see that because of the rise of youth unemployment, that it also makes people quite vulnerable to the malicious uses of AI. So, we also find that more youth now, especially in Global South countries, are enlisted— are being enlisted into cybercriminality. Why? Because they don't have other jobs and because they are digitally literate. So, in some ways, you're the power users of AI, and without jobs to essentially lead you into using that for productive means, you're now finding yourself governed towards things that are actually cybercriminality. And that's a huge concern that I hope that, you know, youth actually take up as an issue, as we find that youth are more likely to be extorted in smaller losses than ever, but more frequently than ever through scams and fraud and other types of AI-amplified harms. Thank you for your question. Thank you.

Bisma, if you could like to add something briefly.

Thank you for the questions. And very briefly, I think I would like to conclude on that note that when we talk about AI, we also really need to raise awareness about the ethical usage of AI. And we can probably inculcate that in our academy as well. Because that's the main thing that when we are educating youth on how to utilize it and how to innovate through it, so we really need to understand the fine line between exposure and exploitation. Of AI, and that's something that the education and of course the academia can do best. So that's my answer to what question you raised at me. So thank you.

Thank you so much to our keynote speakers and panelists. Now we move towards the conclusion, and I— for the concluding remarks, I have the honor to invite Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmed, the Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the United

Thank you so much, Saima, for brilliantly moderating this session.

I greatly appreciate your efforts also to, you know, all the efforts that have gone into planning and organizing this session, and I would like to Thank all the participants, member states, particularly. I see many younger people here in the room, and there are many meetings going on in in the UN right now. So I think the the level of participation with the room almost full to capacity is really appreciated, and that also shows. the level of interest in this discussion that the Permanent Mission of Pakistan, in collaboration with the Prime Minister's Youth Program, we are very honored to have the Chairman, Mr. Khan, here with us, together with the Minister for Economy of Tajikistan, who had to leave for another meeting. We were very grateful for his participation, Mr. Abdurrahman Zadeh, and our panellists, which, apart from the government sector perspective, we have the private sector, we have the UN's perspective, so that enriches the entire discussion. There's not much for me to conclude, but a few points from this discussion, because I'm challenged now because Ambassador of China noted that I was taking notes. So I think first of all, it's a good opportunity, this setting, in terms of sharing of experiences as to, you know, what are the possibilities in this, on this subject, you know, how AI can be useful for sustainable development. So Pakistan shared, we heard from Tajikistan, other countries, Kazakhstan, China, Azerbaijan. So that, you know, tells us in a pretty broad manner as to how governments are tackling this challenge. And then obviously we hear from the private sector and the UN because in the end it's all about partnerships. And last but not the least, the participation of the youth because this is about future and so youth have to be involved in a very important manner. A few interesting points that I think mention merit. I mean, one message that stands out clearly, and it's about artificial intelligence and future. So we say that artificial intelligence will shape our common future, but I think I must say that it's the humanity that must shape the future of the AI. So that's very important. So because we cannot just leave AI, artificial intelligence, on its own, it cannot be auto. And obviously the subject was, you know, the link between AI and sustainable development. So we heard that there is immense potential, many ways in which AI can contribute to accelerating the Sustainable Development Goals, their implementation. The second point, which was mentioned by keynote speakers and others, is about this divide, because we had the development divide first. Now we are having AI, and there is a serious risk and apprehensions that it could— I mean, this is not just a digital divide, it's not just an AI divide. It will, you know, it will widen the overall divide between the developed and the developing countries. So I think equitable development, equitable access is very important. Thirdly, it's coincidental that this discussion is taking place right after the inaugural UN Global Dialogue on AI Governance together with the independent international scientific panel. that took place in Geneva. Why I'm saying that is that we see that, just like we saw in the case of IT when we were discussing IT, now this is the new thing, AI. There are apprehensions also that the way we move forward is not very integrated, so it's fragmented. So You know, this global governance dialogue on AI and the way the scientific panel will contribute, I think it's a good way of integrating the whole discussion so that we can, you know, bring— we can fully utilize the potential of AI for sustainable development, So basically, I would say, you know, these discussions have brought forth 4 essential priorities. It would be good to, you know, sum up in that way. First, bridging the AI divide. That should remain our central task. And there's so many things that were mentioned, I'm not going to, you know, repeat all of that. In the interest of time, in terms of what needs to be done to bridge the AI divide. And secondly, that AI opportunities must translate to tangible development outcomes, and that too in an equitable manner. And again, there is a range of, you know, actions, policy measures that are there that can translate You know, how AI would lead to tangible development outcomes. And third is that the younger generation, the young people, must be recognized not simply as users of AI, but as innovators, as decision makers, as partners in shaping, you know. The AI governance. And finally, and I think this is an important point, we must keep in mind that AI must remain human-centered, you know, because it was mentioned, the people, the priorities of our populations. So it must remain human-centered, ethical, transparent, safe, and accountable. And I think I think it was Jennifer who said that the safeguards are not keeping pace with the growth of AI. So that's very important. So the final message, obviously, for me is that we have to take this forward. I mean, not by a few people, not for a few people, but collectively together and as a global public good. So that means equitable progress and equitable benefit for all, particularly the developing countries. And I think the Ambassador of China who's left, he emphasized the importance of inclusive resilient and sustainable development, and he also mentioned partnerships. So I think this is what we are doing here, is to have this exchange of information, sharing of best practices, and looking at how we can develop and strengthen partnerships to advance this shared objective. So with that, I would like to conclude. conclude, and I would like to thank all of you for being with us for this session and have a very good afternoon. Thank you so much.

Thank you so much, Ambassador Asim, for summing up the entire discussion. On behalf of Permanent Mission of Pakistan Tajikistan and Prime Minister Youth Program, we thank you all for joining us for this important conversation. Thank you.

I want to thank you all because really good to see such big number of youth present here, and I request you all to go and visit Prime Minister's Youth Program digital portal, Digital Youth Hub, and see for yourself what we are doing. Thank you.

Thank you so much.