New Delhi, Feb 18 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday welcomed world leaders, including UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva, to the ongoing Summit on the Impact of Artificial Intelligence and held nine bilateral meetings with heads of state and CEOs.
World leaders, including Sri Lankan President Anur Kumar Disanayak and Bhutanese Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay, were greeted by an ensemble of traditional musical instruments, including drums, nadaswaram and tanpura, with the Prime Minister welcoming them with a warm handshake and exchange of courtesies.
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Mauritian Prime Minister Navinchandra Ramgoolam, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, Seychelles Vice President Sebastien Pillay, Estonian President Alar Karis and Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo were among those greeted by Modi at the brightly decorated Bharat Mandapam.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Guyana Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo were also among the leaders welcomed by the Prime Minister.
Modi held seven bilateral meetings with world leaders and two with global CEOs and discussed issues of common concern with them.
Leaders with whom Modi held bilateral relations included Bhutan’s Tobgay, Spain’s President Pedro Sanchez and Croatia’s Plenkovic, among others.
The prime minister held two separate meetings with Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Sun Microsystems co-founder and Khosla Ventures founder Vinod Khosla.
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“We had fruitful discussions with Croatian Prime Minister Mr. Andrej Plenkovic. We discussed how to add impetus to our bilateral partnership in areas such as technology, innovation, shipbuilding, blue economy and enhancing connectivity through the IMEEC corridor,” Modi said at X after meeting his Croatian counterpart.
In another post after meeting the Estonian president, Modi said, “Had a great meeting with President Alar Karis of Estonia, a nation that has made remarkable progress in technology and artificial intelligence. He discussed how to give our economic partnership more strength, especially in the context of the India-EU Free Trade Agreement, which is a historic deal.”
The AI Impact Summit is being held from February 16-20 at the Bharat Mandapam, with more than 500 global AI leaders, 150 academics and researchers, and 400 CTOs, VPs and philanthropists.
On Thursday, Modi will address a summit that aims to position the country as a leader in artificial intelligence (AI) and envisions a future where technology propels humanity forward and promotes inclusive growth.
Modi will also hold bilateral meetings with several world leaders who will attend the summit, an official statement said.
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Along with Modi, French President Emmanuel Macron, UN Secretary-General Guterres and various top industry leaders from around the world will also address the summit on Thursday.
Modi will also visit the India AI Impact Expo 2026 along with other leaders where they will visit the pavilions set up by various countries.
Modi will then attend a leaders’ plenary meeting around 12:00 p.m., which will bring together heads of state, ministers and senior officials of multilateral institutions to outline national and global AI priorities, including governance, infrastructure and international cooperation.
The Prime Minister will later attend a CEO roundtable from 5:30 p.m., where leaders of global technology and industrial firms will discuss investment, research collaboration, supply chains and the deployment of artificial intelligence systems with government leadership.
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On Wednesday evening, the Prime Minister hosted a dinner for heads of state and world dignitaries.
Modi captioned photos from the dinner and posted on X: “With world leaders at AI Impact Summit dinner and cultural program.”
He also posted photos of cultural performances at the Summit and said, “The cultural program at the Bharat Mandapam showcased the rich heritage and traditions of India!”
The theme of the India AI Impact Summit 2026 is “Sarvajan Hitay, Sarvajan Sukhay” (Welfare for All, Happiness for All).
The summit is anchored by seven working groups that are aligned with three pillars – people, planet and progress – and focus on delivering concrete results demonstrating the impact of AI across sectors.
The seven themes of the summit are AI for economic growth and social good; democratization of AI resources; Inclusion for social empowerment; Safe and Trusted AI; human capital; Science; and resilience, innovation and efficiency.