Sri Lanka took a high-profile role at the world’s largest gathering of artificial intelligence and digital governance forums, held in Geneva from 6 to 10 July, with the President’s chief adviser on the digital economy attending as Special Envoy.
Dr Hans Wijayasuriya represented Sri Lanka across three concurrent events: the first United Nations Global Dialogue on AI Governance, the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Forum, and the AI for Good Global Summit 2026. The inaugural session of the Global Dialogue was addressed by UN Secretary-General António Guterres and UN General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock, among other dignitaries.
Speaking at the UN-led platform, Wijayasuriya argued for an inclusive international AI architecture that protects the interests of developing nations. He stressed the concept of “Sovereign AI,” under which countries can deploy artificial intelligence in ways that reflect their own priorities, cultures and languages without compromising independence, sensitive data or national resilience.
He also joined a ministerial roundtable, where he outlined Sri Lanka’s national digital transformation strategy. The approach integrates AI-powered language models, speech recognition and translation services directly into the country’s Digital Public Infrastructure to widen civic and economic inclusion. Wijayasuriya additionally served as a panellist at a WSIS Forum session on making knowledge more accessible.
On the sidelines, the delegation held bilateral meetings with technology ministers and officials from Pakistan, Estonia, South Africa and Malaysia, as well as senior figures from the World Bank and the International Telecommunication Union. Wijayasuriya was accompanied by Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, Ambassador Sumith Dassanayake, and Telecommunications Regulatory Commission Director General Air Vice Marshal (Retd.) Bandula Herath.
