<h6><strong>Eduardo González</strong></h6> <h4><strong>The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has announced that Spain will host the new edition of the "In Defense of Democracy: Fighting Extremism" initiative in 2026, co-led by Spain and Brazil, and has proposed that Spain host the first meeting of the Scientific Panel on the Governance of Artificial Intelligence.</strong></h4> Sánchez made this announcement during a new meeting of the initiative within the framework of the United Nations High-Level Week. This meeting follows the initiative launched in 2024 by Presidents Pedro Sánchez and Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil, and the meeting held in July in Santiago, Chile, with the leaders of Brazil, Colombia, and Uruguay. During the event, held on Wednesday, the leaders discussed proposals around three key areas: strengthening democracy and multilateralism, regulating the digital environment, combating disinformation, and combating inequalities as the basis for a strong democracy. Sánchez also announced that Spain will host a new edition of the initiative in 2026 and invited countries and civil society to participate. Furthermore, and within the framework of the High-Level Week, Sánchez participated on Thursday in the launch of the "Global Dialogue on Artificial Intelligence Governance." This is the first time the United Nations has brought together governments, scientists, the technology community, the private sector, and civil society in an inclusive forum to collectively address the governance of Artificial Intelligence (AI). In his speech, Sánchez called for a multilateral response to regulate a technology that is "unstoppable but cannot be ungovernable" and emphasized that AI is no longer a promise for the future, but an everyday reality whose advances accelerate innovation and productivity, but also generate risks that must be addressed responsibly, from the transformation of the labor market to the increase in inequalities and the threat to fundamental rights such as privacy, freedom of expression, and protection against disinformation. Pedro Sánchez warned that no country can face the challenges posed by AI alone and defended the role of the United Nations as a legitimate forum for forging global consensus, just as it promoted the International Atomic Energy Agency in 1957 to harness nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. The President of the Government recalled that Spain and Costa Rica were co-facilitators of the first international consensus resolution on global governance of AI and that our country has made a voluntary contribution of three million euros to turn the proposals into reality. He also highlighted the designation of Valencia as the headquarters of the United Nations' "AI for Humanity Lab," which will function as a hub for innovation and multilateral cooperation. Furthermore, Pedro Sánchez proposed that Spain host the first meeting of the Scientific Panel for the Governance of Artificial Intelligence, thus reinforcing its commitment to a technology that "can be an engine for human development or a factor of inequality and risk."
