UN chief to attend New Delhi AI summit, press energy and human-rights agenda

The secretary-general will travel to New Delhi to take part in the Artificial Intelligence Impact Summit, where he is scheduled for the summit's opening ceremony, a heads-of-state plenary and a session on the role of science in international AI governance, the UN spokesperson said. The visit will include bilateral meetings with India's president and prime minister and meetings with tech and scientific leaders.

The spokesperson said the secretary-general will also take part in a roundtable organized by UN colleagues to discuss renewable energy and the energy transition, bringing together industry, finance, policy makers and civil society to "identify concrete steps to further accelerate renewable energy development, strengthen grid and storage, and mobilize investment at scale." The statement said the engagement advances the UN's efforts for a faster, fairer and more inclusive global energy transition aligned with the Paris Agreement.

From New Delhi the secretary-general will travel to Geneva to deliver remarks at the opening of the Human Rights Council's session and to address the high-level segment of the Conference on Disarmament. On the margins he is expected to meet leaders and human-rights nongovernmental organizations and to participate in an event hosted by the Swiss vice president, Inacio Cassis, to mark the completion of a new visitor centre for the UN compound in Geneva.

The spokesperson framed the travel as part of a wider push to ensure broad international participation in AI governance and energy policy, saying the aim is to "ensure that the international community fully understands all the potential and the risks of AI and that everyone has a seat at the table" so decisions are "based on facts and science." The briefing said the secretary-general will return to New York Monday evening.