State House, Freetown, Monday, 9 November 2026 – His Excellency President Dr Julius Maada Bio has called for stronger international cooperation to ensure the safe, secure and responsible development and deployment of frontier Artificial Intelligence (AI) models, while insisting that African countries and other developing nations must have a meaningful voice in shaping the global standards governing the rapidly evolving technology.
President Bio made the call while addressing a High-Level Virtual Meeting on Strengthening International Cooperation on Frontier Model Security, convened by French President Emmanuel Macron. He reaffirmed Sierra Leone’s position that the development and use of artificial intelligence must remain firmly under human direction, oversight and control.
The President recalled that Sierra Leone endorsed the Call for Control of Frontier AI Models during the AI Middle Powers Roundtable at the United Nations General Assembly in September, co-hosted by Kenya and Finland and initiated by Finland and Norway. He noted that the current meeting provided an important opportunity to translate those commitments into practical measures for strengthening international cooperation on frontier AI security.
Highlighting Sierra Leone’s progress in establishing a national framework for AI governance, President Bio disclosed that the country has completed its National AI Readiness Assessment, which will inform the development of its first National AI Strategy. He explained that Government is exploring how artificial intelligence can improve agriculture, healthcare, education and public service delivery, while strengthening digital infrastructure and regional cooperation through ECOWAS, including the proposed Regional Data Embassy Framework, which seeks to expand access to shared infrastructure while safeguarding national jurisdiction and control over data.
“As we advance these efforts, we recognise the importance of building safety, security and accountability into our approach from the outset,” President Bio stated, underscoring the need to balance the opportunities presented by artificial intelligence with appropriate safeguards against emerging risks.
Addressing the international dimensions of frontier AI security, the President outlined the need for common and credible standards for evaluating the safety and security of advanced AI models, clear responsibility and accountability among developers and deployers, and effective international mechanisms for reporting serious incidents and sharing information on emerging threats. He stressed that independent evaluation, transparency, effective oversight and coordinated responses were essential, particularly because the benefits and risks of increasingly capable AI systems transcend national borders.
Emphasising the relationship between international cooperation and national sovereignty, President Bio stated: “No country can adequately address these challenges on its own. Sovereignty does not mean doing everything alone. It means choosing the terms on which we work together.”
He further stressed that international AI governance must be inclusive, arguing that African countries and other developing nations should not simply be expected to adopt standards established elsewhere but must have a meaningful role in developing them. He called for greater investment in scientific expertise, institutional capacity and evaluation tools to enable developing countries to assess advanced AI systems deployed within their jurisdictions and participate effectively in global governance arrangements.
President Bio welcomed the proposed Paris Declaration, particularly its emphasis on common evaluation standards, clear accountability and international cooperation in reporting serious AI-related incidents. He called for its commitments to be translated into practical measures supported by credible evaluation mechanisms, timely information-sharing and stronger national and regional capabilities.
The President concluded by reaffirming Sierra Leone’s readiness to work with international partners to ensure that the extraordinary potential of artificial intelligence is realised without compromising human safety, national sovereignty or human control.
The high-level virtual meeting brought together world leaders and senior government representatives, including United Kingdom Prime Minister The Rt Hon Andy Burnham MP, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, Netherlands Prime Minister Rob Jetten, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, United States Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent and Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Bahrain Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa.
Senior representatives of leading technology organisations also participated, including Microsoft President Brad Smith, OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman and Mistral AI Chief Executive Officer Arthur Mensch, reflecting the importance of cooperation between governments and the technology industry in strengthening the safety, security and responsible development of artificial intelligence.
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