Cyprus represented at Kuwait talks on digital prosperity

The 5th Digital Cooperation Organisation General Assembly opened on Wednesday in Kuwait, bringing together ministers, international organisations and technology leaders to shape global digital cooperation in the age of artificial intelligence.

The Cyprus Mail covered the assembly live from Kuwait, with on-the-ground reporting from the opening session and ministerial round table as discussions moved quickly to the pace of AI development and the limits of existing governance.

Addressing the assembly by video message, UN secretary general António Guterres warned that AI was advancing faster than the frameworks designed to manage it and urged collective global action through shared standards and guardrails.

“Humanity must steer artificial intelligence together,” Guterres said, adding that the United Nations would advance new initiatives on AI science and global governance in cooperation with the DCO.

DCO secretary general Deemah Al Yahya cautioned that governance was lagging behind technology and that uneven access to infrastructure and capital risked deepening global digital divides.

“AI is reshaping societies and industries, but the question is who will benefit,” Al Yahya said, calling for inclusive multilateral action to turn innovation into shared prosperity.

As 2025 Council president, Kuwait placed trust and integrity at the centre of digital transformation, formally launching a DCO campaign to combat online misinformation and strengthen cooperation on AI and content integrity.

Jordan, reflecting on its outgoing presidency in 2024, pointed to progress on the 2025–2028 DCO agenda, expanded partnerships and the development of practical AI readiness tools across member states.

Pakistan, set to assume the presidency in 2026, outlined priorities around ethical AI, digital public infrastructure, cybersecurity and skills, while proposing digital trust corridors among DCO members.

Saudi Arabia highlighted the organisation’s economic weight, saying the DCO now represented around 10 per cent of the global population, alongside major investments in AI talent, computing capacity and energy infrastructure.

Bahrain urged negotiations towards an international AI treaty, proposing the DCO as a neutral platform to advance responsible and peace-oriented AI governance.

Interventions from Oman, Qatar, Morocco, Rwanda and Bangladesh focused on human-centric AI, national strategies and development-driven use cases in areas such as health, agriculture and public services.

Greece told the assembly that AI was moving faster than government initiatives, linking cloud infrastructure, AI factories and digital sovereignty while bringing a European Union perspective to the discussions.

Non-member and guest states, including China, Kazakhstan, Kenya and Palestine, stressed that AI risks were inherently cross-border, with several speakers warning that frontier AI threats exceeded national capacity and required enforceable global frameworks.

The meeting then moved into a closed ministerial AI round table, intended to align understanding on governance gaps, misinformation risks and the absence of binding global mechanisms to manage advanced AI systems.

Alongside the General Assembly, the International Digital Cooperation Forum took place under the theme Inclusive prosperity in the age of AI, with a strong focus on translating ambition into action.

As part of the forum, I moderated a high-level panel titled Semiconductors as Strategic Infrastructure: A Multilateral Path to Digital Resilience, examining how chips have shifted from commodities to critical infrastructure.

The panel brought together semiconductor specialist Dr Naveed Sherwani, Undersecretary for Communications and Information Technology at Oman’s Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology Dr Ali Al Shidhani, and general partner at the Saudi Fabless Semiconductor Fund Ayman Sejiny.

Participants discussed supply chain resilience, interdependence and the limits of national self-sufficiency, among other topics, all in the context of semiconductors and the rise of artificial intelligence.

Speakers broadly agreed that no single country could control the entire semiconductor stack and that effective cooperation required practical frameworks that balanced sovereignty with openness.

Cyprus, a member state of the DCO, was represented at the assembly by a designated official, underlining the island’s engagement in shaping multilateral digital policy even as AI governance accelerates.

The conference continues on Thursday with further discussions, panels and bilateral meetings expected to refine shared priorities for the next phase of global digital cooperation.