Swiss President on AI, India Ties & Summit

New Delhi, Feb 18 (PTI) Here is the full text of Swiss President Guy Parmelin's interview to PTI.



Q. How do you see India hosting the AI Impact Summit and what are Switzerland's expectations from the summit?

A: Switzerland very much welcomes the focus of the AI Impact summit, which is to work towards making sure that everyone in the world can benefit from the potential of AI, and that no one is left behind. The principles established by the summit in India in this regard provide useful guidance, and the structures for voluntary cooperation established in New Delhi provide structure that can help us achieve this goal.



Q. Is Switzerland planning to host the next edition of the AI Summit? Do you think time has come for a broad global policy framework to regulate use of AI?

A: We are available as a candidate for the AI Summit 2027 and would like to organise it. Over the past 200 years, mankind has established thousands of legal, technical and societal norms to "regulate" the development and use of engines in a vast number of different machines and vehicles, with different levels of harmonization, based on the specific context of use. Like engines, we think that also AI cannot be "regulated" by one single instrument, but we will need to develop a governance framework consisting of many instruments covering different aspects of the development and use of AI.

Switzerland is therefore actively contributing to the development of technical standards for AI, of binding and non binding legal instruments, like the recommendations of UNESCO or the Global Partnership on AI (GPAI) and the Council of Europe framework convention on AI, which has been elaborated among 55 countries from all around the world and is the first binding international treaty on AI. But we also need societal and cultural norms that guide us when using AI in our specific contexts.

Q. India has been pushing for democratisation of high-technologies including AI to ensure that the Global South is not left behind. How do you see it?


A. We fully share and support India's and other countries' efforts to democratize AI. Switzerland has created an initiative to share and pool computing resources across countries and stakeholders that have limited resources in the "International Computation and AI Network" (ICAIN) and, just a few months ago, the Swiss AI research community presented the "apertus" language model which has been trained in over a thousand languages and will help many cultures with fewer resources and data to develop their own language models, appropriate for their own needs.

Q. In a world where AI significantly lowers the cost of production in high-tech nations, how can developing countries use trade policy to protect their domestic labour markets from 'AI-driven dumping'?

A. When AI significantly reduces production costs in high-wage countries, exports can become so cheap that they put pressure on labour markets in developing countries, even without classic dumping. Such shocks can be mitigated through trade policy. Clear investigation procedures and sunset clauses are important in order to avoid the implementation of harmful, permanent protection measures.



Q. Many nations now treat 'user data' as a natural resource. How do we resolve the conflict between 'Data Sovereignty' laws and the 'Free Flow of Data' required for global AI services?

A. Switzerland is convinced that international cooperation and the cross-border flow of data are crucial for us all if we want to benefit from the potential that digital technologies like AI offer. In order for this to work, we need a set of principles and rules that help us to respect each others' sovereignty and that create the necessary trust and fair conditions for all to participate. Switzerland is willing to work constructively with all those that are interested in building such a trustworthy framework.

Q. How do you see overall India-Switzerland bilateral ties including in areas of trade?

A. Relations between Switzerland and India are excellent. In 2024, we celebrated 75 years of friendship between our countries. There is potential for growth in various areas, and my visit also serves to explore these opportunities. Our economic relations are based on complementary industrial strengths, which allow Switzerland and India to cooperate very effectively. Switzerland mainly exports machinery, pharmaceutical and chemical products, precision instruments, medical technology, and watches, while importing chemicals, textiles, electronics, and other industrial goods from India.

(Conducted on email) PTI MPB ZMN