Italy, India and Kenya signed a trilateral strategic cooperation agreement Wednesday in New Delhi aimed at expanding artificial intelligence infrastructure across Africa, marking what officials called the first such collaboration between Europe, Asia and Africa in the AI sector.
The agreement was formalized on the sidelines of the Summit on the Impact of Artificial Intelligence by Italian Minister of Business and Made in Italy Adolfo Urso, Indian Minister of Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw and Kenyan Minister of Information, Communications and Digital Economy William Kabogo Gitau.
The accord is part of the Artificial Intelligence for Sustainable Development Hub, promoted by Italy’s Ministry of Business and Made in Italy in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme and aligned with Italy’s Mattei Plan for African development. It also falls under the broader India-Italy Strategic Action Plan 2025-2029.
“This agreement consolidates the collaboration between Italy, India and Kenya to develop artificial intelligence on the African continent,” Urso said, describing India as “a key partner for Italy and a key player in the development of AI and innovation.” He added that the three nations will work to “transform this cooperation into concrete projects to support sustainable development in Africa.”
The agreement calls for launching 15 high-impact AI use cases as early as 2026, contributing to a broader goal of establishing roughly 100 channels for AI dissemination across developing countries. Participating organizations include Italy’s MIMIT AI Cluster, India’s EkStep/People+AI Foundation and Kenya’s Directorate for Digital Economy and Emerging Technologies.
A trilateral working group will be established to guide and monitor the initial use cases in coordination with each country’s national strategies. The collaboration will also prioritize speech-to-text AI solutions in African languages to expand access to digital services and reduce language barriers.
Urso called the signing “a significant step forward toward greater awareness in this sector,” and stressed that “everyone, North and South, must benefit from artificial intelligence.” He echoed remarks from Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who has advocated for global AI governance mechanisms that “respect different sensitivities and realities.” Urso also noted Italy’s standing as the third-largest country in the world for supercomputer capacity, after the United States and China.
The summit in New Delhi centered on the convergence of state digital infrastructure and AI, with India’s model — encompassing digital identity systems, interoperable payments and other foundational tools — presented as a framework for broader AI adoption in the developing world.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for AI to be treated as a global common good. “We must democratize AI, making it a tool for inclusion and empowerment, especially in the Global South,” he said in his inaugural address, arguing that AI “will be truly beneficial to the world only if shared, with open and accessible code.”
French President Emmanuel Macron, also attending the summit, praised India’s digital infrastructure as “a civilizational achievement,” citing its payments network capable of processing 20 billion transactions per month and more than 500 million digital health IDs issued.
The New Delhi agreement builds on announcements made last week in Nairobi during the Artificial Intelligence Forum. As part of the AI Hub for Sustainable Development launched last June in Rome, Italy is working to establish an acceleration program for African startups backed by an initial 50 million euro venture capital fund promoted by Primo Capital and Harmonic Innovation Group, with a launch expected within the next two to three months.
The initiative also includes the creation of Italy’s first incubator in Africa, focused on climate technologies, food systems and digital public infrastructure, as well as an innovation corridor linking Italy, Nairobi, India and San Francisco. A digital innovation fair is scheduled for June 24-26 at BolognaFiere.
