1. African AI Summit
On 3 and 4 April 2025, the first African AI Summit took place in Kigali with more than 2,000 experts from 97 countries. The ‘Africa Declaration on AI’ agreed on an ‘African Union Continental Strategy on AI’ based on an ‘Africa First’ approach. This strategy aims to promote African companies and talent, protect African data and help Africa participate confidently and on an equal footing in the global AI economy. An ‘African AI Scientific Panel’ will be established and a fund of 60 billion US dollars will be created for AI projects. Africa must not become a ‘raw data supplier’ for the global North. International speakers included Bill Gates, Sam Altman (Open AI), Doreen Bogdan-Marin (ITU) and Amandeep Gil Singh (UN Tech Envoy).[1]
Executive Order (EO) on AI education
On 23 April 2025, US President Trump signed an Executive Order (EO) on AI education (Advancing AI Education for American Youth). [2] The programme envisages a comprehensive reform of the US education system – from kindergarten to lifelong learning – with the aim of ‘ensuring that every American has the opportunity to learn about AI from the earliest stages of their educational journey through postsecondary education, fostering a culture of innovation and critical thinking that will solidify our nation's leadership in the AI-driven future.’ An ‘AI Education Task Force’ will be set up under the leadership of Michael Kratsios, Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) at the White House. The task force will include several ministers, the Special Adviser for AI & Crypto and the Director of the National Science Foundation (NSF). The budgets are to be organised through reallocations from regular education programmes and in cooperation with tech companies.
28th session of the UNCSTD
The 28th session of the UNCSTD, held in Geneva from 7 to 12 April 2025, failed to adopt the annual resolution on the WSIS follow-up by consensus for the first time in 19 years.[3] The US stated that it did not support any references to the SDGs, gender and climate change and voted ‘no’. The resolution contains few new aspects. Proposals to give the IGF permanent status and references to the Sao Paulo Multistakeholder Guidelines (SPMGs) did not receive a majority vote. The role of the UN Group on the Information Society (UNGIS) has been strengthened. However, the idea of upgrading UNGIS with a multistakeholder advisory group was rejected. The UNCSTD resolution will be forwarded to ECOSOC and the 80th UN General Assembly. It will be one of the foundations for the intergovernmental negotiation process on WSIS+20, which will begin in October 2025.
2. IGF Open Consultations
The 2nd IGF Open Consultations took place in Geneva from 14 to 16 April 2025. The MAG adopted the programme for the Oslo IGF in June 2025. It comprises five high-level sessions (1. Losing the Information Space? Ensuring Human Rights and Resilient Societies in the Age of Big Tech, 2. Digital Public Goods and Global Digital Cooperation, 3. AI & the Future of Work, 4. Securing Child Safety in the Age of Algorithms, 5. Charting the Path Forward for the WSIS+20 Review and Role of the IGF), 130 workshops and open forums, as well as a Parliamentarian and Youth Track. In addition, there will be meetings of the Dynamic Coalitions and Policy Networks.[4]
Call to strengthen European digital sovereignty
On 14 April 2025[5], France's Minister for Digital Affairs, Clara Chappaz, responded to US threats against EU digital laws with a call to strengthen European digital sovereignty. Europe must become independent of US tech companies. This applies in particular to cloud services such as Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services, which dominate 80% of the European market. What is needed is a ‘change of heart’, a strategic reorientation of European digital policy and a holistic approach that goes beyond cloud services to include hardware, software, cyber security and AI research. The national digital strategies of individual EU states must be pooled.[6]
Exercise to defend against cyber attacks by NATO countries
From 7 to 11 April 2025, 20 NATO countries conducted an exercise to defend against cyber attacks. The exercise tested the Virtual Cyber Incident Support Capability (VCISC) mechanism established at the NATO summit in Vilnius in 2023. It also focused on the protection of undersea cables. The exercise was led by the Czech Republic.[7]
Talk between Deputy Foreign Minister Verschinin and UN TechEnvoy Amandeep Gil Singh
On 1 April 2025, the Russian Foreign Ministry reported on a talk between Deputy Foreign Minister Verschinin and UN TechEnvoy Amandeep Gil Singh.[8] Among other things, the talk focused on the UN's AI strategy. The Russian side complained about an ‘internet management gap’. The TechEnvoy was invited to the ‘Global Digital Forum’ planned for early June 2025 in Nizhny Novgorod, which is expected to attract 10,000 participants[9].
AI Continent Action Plan
On 9 April 2025, EU Digital Commissioner Henna Virkkunen announced a new ‘AI Continent Action Plan’. The plan aims to simplify the legal framework, facilitate access to data and promote talent. ‘AI is no longer “just” a competitive advantage; it's a necessity to be competitive and to close the innovation gap.’ [10] On 25 April 2025, the 2024 report on the DMA was sent to the European Parliament[11]. Despite US threats against EU digital laws, on 23 April 2025, the EU Commission imposed penalties for violations of the DMA on Apple (€500 million) and Meta (€200 million).[12]
BRICS Foreign Ministers' Meeting
Cyber security, artificial intelligence and the digital economy were also discussed at the BRICS foreign ministers‘ meeting in Rio de Janeiro on 28 and 29 April 2025. On cyber security, it was recommended that the OEWG be replaced by a ’single-track, state-led permanent mechanism" under the umbrella of the UN. Furthermore, the BRICS countries are called upon to sign the UN Convention on Cybercrime and ratify it as soon as possible. On AI, BRICS relies on the UN as the central negotiating body. In the digital economy, the ‘BRICS Partnership on the New Industrial Revolution’ (PartNIR), established in 2018, is to be further strengthened. The question of an ‘Internet Management Gap’ raised by Russia in talks with the UN Tech Envoy in early April 2025 is not mentioned in the final declaration. WSIS+20 and the IGF are also not mentioned[13].
[1] https://c4ir.rw/docs/Africa%20Declaration%20on%20Artificial%20Intelligence.pdf
[2] https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/04/advancing-artificial-intelligence-education-for-american-youth/
[3] https://unctad.org/meeting/commission-science-and-technology-development-28th-session
[4] https://intgovforum.org/en/content/igf-2025-high-level-sessions
[5] https://www.denic.de/fileadmin/public/Aktuelles/368_-_Discours_douverture_de_Clara_Chappaz_Soiree_de_la_Souverainete_du_numerique.pdf
[6] https://www.euractiv.com/section/tech/news/against-us-digital-predators-france-digital-minister-calls-for-a-european-pack-hunt/
[7] https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/news_234394.htm
[8] https://mid.ru/en/foreign_policy/international_safety/2006373/
[10] https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/speech_25_1022
[11] https://digital-markets-act.ec.europa.eu/about-dma/dma-annual-reports_en
[12] https://digital-markets-act.ec.europa.eu/commission-finds-apple-and-meta-breach-digital-markets-act-2025-04-23_en
[13] https://brics.br/en/documents/2025-04-29_brics-mfa-chairs-statement.pdf/@@download/file
