CALD Chairperson Speaks at a Gathering of European and African Leaders

CALD Chairperson and Cambodian Senator Mardi Seng was in Abidjan, Ivory Coast on 23-25 February 2025 to speak in the RenewPAC 2025 Summit.

The Summit was organized by the Renew Europe Group in the European Parliament and its Delegation for the Pacific, Africa and the Caribbean (RenewPAC) and Ivory Coast’s liberal and governing party, the RHDP, with the patronage of the President of the Republic, His Excellency President Alassane Dramane Ouattara.

With the theme, Partners in Progress: Enhancing EU-Africa Competitiveness for Sustainable Growth, the Summit underscored Europe and Africa’s shared ambition to drive innovation, deepen collaboration, and empower sustainable development.  The event also aimed to serve as a platform where a partnership between the EU and Africa on an equal footing could be examined and created as a vision for the future — one that benefits the peoples of both continents in the spirit of mutual respect and a win-win approach.

CALD Chairperson Seng spoke in the panel, “AI for Sustainable Development, Food Security and Regional Development”, under the International Leadership and Prospective Forum of the Summit. In his intervention, Seng focus in particular on AI and democratic development, arguing that “AI has great potential to enhance the quality of our democracy by making our elections and campaigns more transparent, efficient and participatory, but AI, when not bound by certain principles or rules, can also be a threat to democracy and fundamental human rights.”

Citing CALD’s policy paper on AI, Seng recognized the importance of the European Union’s (EU) AI Act passed in March 2024 as the first comprehensive regulation on AI by a major regulator anywhere. Like the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in 2018, he noted that the EU AI Act could become a global standard on AI regulation.

Seng concluded by saying that AI use must be grounded on liberal and democratic principles for it to contribute to sustainable development, food security and regional development. He noted: “As the AI technology is rapidly evolving, we have to keep abreast of developments so we can maximize the opportunities and manage the critical risks that go with the technology. The stakes are high, and the time to address these challenges is now. By experimenting responsibly and implementing AI in thoughtful ways, we can harness its benefits to address the most pressing issues of our time.”