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3 min readNew DelhiUpdated: Feb 19, 2026 06:18 AM IST
Narendra Modi meets Spanish President. (PTI)
With Prime Minister Narendra Modi slated to inaugurate the leaders’ segment of the India AI Impact Summit on Thursday, the strong European participation at the event is a major takeaway. Eleven heads of state or government — France, The Netherlands, Spain, Croatia, Greece, Serbia, Slovakia, Estonia, Finland, Swiss Confederation and Liechtenstein – are participating in the Summit.
Besides two deputy PM-level leaders from the UK and Sweden and 12 ministerial-level dignitaries from Germany, Italy, EU, Portugal, Belgium, Ireland, Austria, Cyprus, Norway, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania and one deputy Speaker from Hungary — a total of 26 European nations have been officially represented.
Modi met Spanish President Pedro Sanchez on Wednesday and hailed AI as a transformative force and underlined the need for closer India-Spain cooperation to leverage its potential for inclusive development.
The Spanish President said the AI Impact Summit could emerge as a turning point in shaping a global framework for AI. The two leaders also discussed boosting bilateral cooperation in defence, trade and critical energy sectors. Modi held bilateral talks with Sanchez and several other leaders including his counterparts from Finland, Croatia, Bhutan and Kazakhstan as well as presidents of Estonia and Serbia on the margins of the summit.
Besides AI, the other focus area of the PM’s bilateral talks with European leaders was the FTA between India and the 27-nation EU and how it would act as a strong catalyst to shore up bilateral trade and investments.
An Indian readout said President Sanchez highlighted the importance of the AI Summit and expressed confidence that its outcomes would contribute meaningfully to shaping global AI governance. “The two leaders recognised artificial intelligence as a transformative force and underlined the need for closer India-Spain cooperation to leverage its potential for inclusive development and societal benefit,” it said.
This is the largest European delegation to any technology-centric event in India.
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The EU leaders and their representatives, in official talks, have conveyed their unanimous support to the early implementation of the India-EU FTA. They have assured their support for its early ratification in the European Council and European Parliament, officials said.
According to them, France is playing a key role in AI governance and applications. PM Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron co-chaired the AI Action Summit in Paris in February 2025.In recent diplomatic engagements, officials said that Europe has given an “unambiguous vote of confidence” in the “vitality” of the India-Europe Strategic Partnership – anchored in AI, digital innovation, strategic cooperation, economic growth and shared global priorities.
Shubhajit Roy, Diplomatic Editor at The Indian Express, has been a journalist for more than 25 years now. Roy joined The Indian Express in October 2003 and has been reporting on foreign affairs for more than 17 years now. Based in Delhi, he has also led the National government and political bureau at The Indian Express in Delhi — a team of reporters who cover the national government and politics for the newspaper. He has got the Ramnath Goenka Journalism award for Excellence in Journalism ‘2016. He got this award for his coverage of the Holey Bakery attack in Dhaka and its aftermath. He also got the IIMCAA Award for the Journalist of the Year, 2022, (Jury’s special mention) for his coverage of the fall of Kabul in August 2021 — he was one of the few Indian journalists in Kabul and the only mainstream newspaper to have covered the Taliban’s capture of power in mid-August, 2021. ... Read More
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