Building Bridges through AI: India-Africa-France Dialogue - Feb, 2026

At the AFD Pavilion during the India AI Impact Summit 2026, CivicDataLab joined the session "Building Bridges through AI: India–Africa–France Dialogue", convened by Agence Française de Développement, bringing together perspectives on cross-regional collaboration and South–South partnerships for advancing AI for the common good.

Representing CivicDataLab, Aashi Srivastava, Climate Lead joined Claire Zanuso, from AFD in a conversation on forging a third pathway for India, Europe, and Africa - one rooted in responsible, sovereign, and development-oriented AI ecosystems.

The discussion highlighted how the use of data and responsible AI in Assam's Green Budgeting has helped direct public financing towards climate resilience while simultaneously strengthening the state's positioning as an investable climate destination.

The dialogue also explored how AFD's AI Investment Potential Index can be leveraged by Indian states to build stronger cases for climate and development financing, including access to multilateral development bank (MDB) support.

With both AFD and CivicDataLab currently supporting the Government of Himachal Pradesh through HPDRRP and IDS-DRR respectively, the session reflected a growing opportunity for deeper collaboration towards resilient, data-driven public systems.