KUALA LUMPUR: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the 47th Asean Summit, to be held here next month, says Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Anwar said Modi will be present alongside global leaders such as US President Donald Trump and Chinese Premier Li Qiang.
“We have Modi from India, the PM of Japan, Canada, Italy, Brazil’s Lula (Inacio Lula da Silva) and Cyril Ramaphosa from South Africa.
“It is not just the 11 countries (in Asean). We are talking about countries in Asia, Europe and Latin America,” said Anwar.
The 47th Asean Summit and Related Summits is scheduled to take place from Oct 26 to 28.
Malaysia is Asean Chair this year.
Later, when opening the Smart City Expo, the Prime Minister said tech-driven spaces like smart cities should be built to serve the people as Malaysia gears up to become an AI Nation by 2030.
He said transforming cities are part of Asean’s constant efforts to address poverty and elevate lives, adding that a smart city must be both culturally vibrant and technologically savvy.
“From leveraging AI capabilities in energy, water and waste management to strengthening our national resilience with technology empowered disaster response, Smart City bolsters cost efficiencies, decreases our environmental footprint and fortifies our cities to be better prepared for future perils,” he added.
This includes AI-empowered government services, which he said “could increase accessibility, ensure consistency in responses, thus strengthening our commitment ultimately to justice, stability and safety”.
He said it was also important to maintain AI safety, ethics and principles in the midst of fast-paced development, adding that despite the pressures of an ever changing landscape, one must hold steadfast to the ethos of inclusivity and sustainability.
Digital Minister Gobind Singh Deo said all states have embarked on their own initiatives towards building a smart city.
“It has been in development since a few years ago. For example, I visited Penang and there is a command centre to oversee matters related to traffic, safety and cleanliness.”
However, Gobind said existing initiatives are operating in silos.
For the AI Nation vision to materialise, there has to be an effort to combine all initiatives where data-sharing can be performed more effectively, he said.
“Moving ahead, we are looking at how we can bring all of the current solutions that exist at state and local government levels to the centre and streamline into solutions that can be expanded and finding (more) solutions through innovation.”
