China and Zambia Co-Host Inaugural Meeting of Group of Friends for International Cooperation on AI Capacity-Building at the United Nations

On December 3, 2024, China and Zambia co-hosted the inaugural meeting of the Group of Friends for International Cooperation on AI Capacity-Building (人工智能能力建設國際合作之友小組) at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, formally establishing the group. Fu Cong (傅聰), China’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, and Prudence Kaoma, acting Permanent Secretary of Zambia’s Ministry of Finance and National Planning, delivered opening remarks, with representatives from more than 80 countries and several UN agencies attending, including the Office of the Secretary-General’s Envoy on Technology. The group was established as a direct follow-up mechanism to UN General Assembly Resolution A/RES/78/311 (關於加強人工智能能力建設國際合作的決議) and to China’s AI Capacity-Building Action Plan for Good and for All (人工智能能力建設行動計劃), announced at the September 2024 UN General Assembly high-level meeting. According to China’s Permanent Mission to the UN, Fu invoked Xi Jinping’s Global AI Governance Initiative (全球人工智能治理倡議) as the normative foundation for the group’s work, framing it around “fairness and inclusiveness” and “multilateralism” — terms China uses in AI governance contexts to promote state-centered regulatory frameworks as an alternative to norms that emphasize individual rights or Western institutional leadership. Kaoma said Zambia expected the group to bridge the AI divide and support the UN’s role in global AI governance. According to the People’s Daily, the meeting marked China’s second major AI governance event at the UN in three months.