The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is expected to highlight the importance of South-South cooperation to build solidarity and drive progress on shared development goals.
Guterres, who arrived in China on Tuesday, would take part in the 2024 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) on Thursday.
Guterres Spokesperson, Mr Stephane Dujarric, at a news conference in New York, said he would highlight the importance of South-South cooperation to build solidarity and drive progress on shared goals.
While in the capital, Dujarric said he would also meet with senior government officials.
Earlier on Tuesday, he was in Shanghai, where he spoke at the opening ceremony of a workshop on Artificial Intelligence (AI) Capacity Building.
He said that AI capacities were concentrated in a handful of powerful companies – and even fewer countries. Meanwhile, too many countries face significant challenges in accessing AI tools.
“The Secretary-General underscored that to truly harness AI’s potential, we need international cooperation – and solidarity, and we must urgently bridge the AI gap for developing countries,’’ the spokesperson said.
Without adequate guardrails, he said, AI could further worsen inequalities and digital divides and disproportionately affect the most vulnerable.
Over the weekend, Guterres was in Singapore where he met with President Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, and other senior officials. (NAN)
