"Remarks by H.E. Sheikh Jaffar Khan Mandokhail, Governor of Balochistan, PakistanDuring the Youth and AI Summit(12 August 2026)********Excellencies,Distinguished delegates,Dear young friends,It is a pleasure to join you at the United Nations on International Youth Day for this timely Youth and AI Summit.2. I commend the Permanent Missions of the Bahamas and the Dominica, International Organization of Youth, the Major Group for Children and Youth, and all partners for bringing young people together not merely to discuss intelligence, but to help shape its future. This is particularly important because young people will live longest with both the opportunities and consequences of the technological choices we make today.3. For Pakistan, this conversation has particular significance. Nearly 70 per cent of our population is under the age of 30. Our young people are not simply beneficiaries of our development policies; they are the principal drivers of Pakistans future.4. intelligence offers an extraordinary opportunity to harness this demographic strength. Pakistans National AI Policy provides a roadmap towards a knowledge-based economy, including an ambitious target of training one million AI professionals by 2030, expanding AI education, strengthening research and innovation, and promoting collaboration among government, academia and industry.5. Our youth initiatives are increasingly focused on AI literacy and future skills, enabling young Pakistanis to become innovators, entrepreneurs and technology leaders. This commitment was also reflected in the recent Indus AI Week in Islamabad, which brought together policymakers, industry, startups, academia and international partners to strengthen collaboration on AI, innovation, policy and skills.6. For me, as Governor of Balochistan, this question has an additional dimension. Technology can help us overcome barriers of geography and distance. A talented young person in Quetta, Gwadar, Turbat or a remote district of Balochistan should have the same opportunity to gain experience, innovate, and compete as any young person anywhere else in the world.7. That is the promise of digital transformation. AI can become a great equalizer but only if access to it is itself equitable. This is also why the international dimension of today's Summit matters. Young people, particularly in the Global South, remain underrepresented in spaces where technological priorities and norms are determined. Todays discussion rightly seeks to address this gap by placing youth voices at the centre of discussions on AI policy and governance.8. intelligence must ultimately serve people and advance sustainable development. It can help improve education and healthcare, strengthen climate resilience, create productive employment, enhance public services, and accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals. But technological progress will not automatically translate into human progress. If developing countries lack access to infrastructure, computing capacity, skills, finance and knowledge, AI risks widening rather than narrowing existing inequalities.9. Our task, therefore, is to ensure that the AI revolution is both innovative and inclusive. We must bridge the AI divide, translate technological advances into tangible development gains, and enable young people not merely to use AI but to develop it and participate in shaping its governance. Most importantly, AI must remain human-centred, ethical, safe, and accountable, with its benefits accessible to all.10. The establishment of the UN Independent International Scientific Panel on AI and the Global Dialogue on AI Governance is an important step towards more inclusive global AI governance. The Panels report rightly recognizes that the AI divide is not only about access to technology, but about the capacity to influence how AI is developed and governed. These processes should therefore help ensure that developing countries, and particularly the young people, have a meaningful voice in shaping the future of AI.Dear Young Friends,11. The future of intelligence should not simply happen to your generation your generation must actually help shape it.12. My message to you today is therefore simple: learn, question, innovate and lead. Use technology not merely to build smarter machines, but to build fairer societies, stronger communities, and a more sustainable world.13. Pakistan is determined to place its young people at the centre of this transformation. And we stand ready to work with the United Nations, Member States, academia, industry and, most importantly, young people themselves to ensure that the age of intelligence becomes an age of greater opportunity, inclusion, and human progress for all.I thank you."