By Amrashree Mishra
New York [US], February 23 : Keyzom Ngodup Massally, AI Director at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), on Monday hailed India's leadership in the Global South as the country announced a historic trilateral partnership on artificial intelligence with Italy and Kenya on the sidelines of the global AI Impact Summit.
The strategic trilateral partnership was announced to co-design and deploy scalable, sovereign AI pathways across Africa, leveraging India's digital public goods. It was signed in the presence of Nandan Nilekani; Adolfo Urso, Minister of Enterprises and Made in Italy and William Kabogo Gitau, Kenya's Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Information, Communications and the Digital Economy.


In an exclusive interview with ANI, Keyzom Ngodup Massally, Director of the AI Hub for Sustainable Development at UNDP, said, "The trilateral agreement between Italy, India, and Kenya embodies this shared commitment. It positions the public and private sectors as strategic partners to elevate the Global South's role in global AI governance. Together, with India's leadership in digital public goods for the global south, we are actively working to identify and shape the public goods of AI--responsible pathways for its diffusion that prioritise equity, trust, and accountability--so AI can benefit humanity at scale and leave no one behind."
At the Summit, Ekstep Foundation's People plus Ai along with UNDP, Anthropic, IIITB, ORF, governments of Kenya and Italy announced new partnerships in support of the goal to develop 100 AI Diffusion Pathways by 2030 to create breakthroughs in AI adoption.
Massally further told ANI, "The discussions in Delhi marked a meaningful step forward, shifting focus from high-level concepts to the practical architecture of impact: building ecosystems that integrate finance, technology, and international cooperation to deliver real value."
As per a statement by the UNDP, leveraging the G7-endorsed AI Hub for Sustainable Development, the arrangement unites ecosystems in India, Italy and Kenya to collectively work with local public and private sector innovators to scale voice-enabled AI solutions tailored to African contexts, focusing on low-connectivity environments, local languages, and data ownership.
"The cooperation aims at catalysing smart ecosystem pathways, combining India's innovation expertise, digital public goods and know-how, Kenya's on-the-ground ecosystem and leadership in Africa, and Italy's AI Hub's focus on horizontal unlocks and industrial partners to deliver concrete, Africa-led progress and marks a crucial step toward building sovereign, green AI infrastructure that is Africa-led", the UNDP statement said.
Earlier, while in Delhi, Massally underlined how UNDP is working on making sure AI adoption serves people and the planet and noted how it is utilising AI to help support diffusion pathways where AI can speak local languages, and make a difference in the lives of farmers, women entrepreneurs-- in India and across the world.
The Global AI Impact Summit 2026 held in New Delhi was the first to be hosted in the Global South, and brought together policymakers, industry leaders, academics and civil society representatives to deliberate on responsible AI governance and inclusive technological advancement.

At the Summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled the comprehensive "MANAV Vision" for AI, reflecting on the technology to have ethical foundations.

Its inauguration was attended by over 20 Heads of Government and 59 Ministerial-level representatives, alongside government representatives from 118 countries. The Summit also convened 100+ global AI leaders, CEOs and CXOs, and over 500 leading AI experts from across the world.

The Summit witnessed unprecedented international participation, reaffirming India's growing leadership in shaping the global Artificial Intelligence discourse.