Sri Lanka marks high-level engagement at the World’s largest AI Summits in Geneva

Chief Advisor to the President of Sri Lanka on Digital Economy, Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya participated as the Special Envoy of the President at the world’s largest global digital  governance forums held in Geneva from 06-10 July 2026. The global event had three main  forums vis-a vis the first United Nations Global Dialogue on AI Governance, World Summit  on Information Society (WSIS) Forum and AI for Good Global Summit 2026. 

The inaugural session of the Global Dialogue on AI Governance was addressed by the  United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, President of the United Nations  General Assembly (UNGA), Annalena Baerbock, and other high-level dignitaries. 

Addressing the historic first universal, UN-led platform on artificial intelligence; the Global  Dialogue on AI Governance, Dr. Wijayasuriya underlined the importance of an inclusive  international AI architecture that protects the interests of developing nations. He  underscored that deep and meaningful inclusion raises the imperative of “Sovereign AI,”  where countries can deploy AI in ways that reflect their own national priorities, cultures and  languages without compromising independence, sensitive data or national resilience.  

Further expanding on these themes, Dr. Wijayasuriya participated as a featured panelist in  the high-level Leaders TalkX session on “Information Without Barriers: Making  Knowledge Accessible” at the WSIS Forum.  

Dr. Wijayasuriya also joined the Ministerial Roundtable with participating Ministers from  other States and detailed Sri Lanka’s national digital transformation strategy, which  integrates AI-powered language models, speech recognition, and translation services directly into the country’s Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) to foster civic and economic  inclusion. 

On the margins of the summits, the Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya engaged in a series of bilateral  meetings with global tech ministers, heads of international organizations, and diplomatic  dignitaries, including Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication of  Pakistan, Minister of Justice & Digital Affairs of the Republic of Estonia, Deputy Minister  of Communications and Digital Technologies of South Africa, Secretary-General of the  Ministry of Communications of Malaysia, Vice President for Digital and AI of the World  Bank, Deputy-Secretary General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) etc. 

Dr. Wijayasuriya also addressed the event "From India to Geneva: A Global Convening on  AI Impact at Scale," which was also addressed by the Minister of State for External Affairs;  and Environment, Forest and Climate Change of India. 

Through these targeted engagements, the high-level delegation of Sri Lanka explored  technical cooperation, cross-border digital alignment, and knowledge sharing to accelerate  Sri Lanka's pathway towards a digital economy. These engagements further consolidated Sri  Lanka's position as a proactive and emerging digital hub in the Indian Ocean. 

Dr. Wijayasuriya was accompanied by the Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the  United Nations in Geneva, Ambassador Sumith Dassanayake, Director General of the  Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL), Air Vice Marshal  (Retd) Bandula Herath, and senior officials of the Permanent Mission in Geneva.