President Karis to host heads of state of 11 countries at AI meeting in Tallinn

On the invitation of President Alar Karis, the heads of state of 11 other EU Member States will be coming together at the Arraiolos Group meeting in Tallinn on 9 & 10 October. The two-day event will focus on the growing role of AI in society and the international security situation. This will be the first time that so many heads of state have visited Estonia simultaneously.

In addition to President Karis himself, the meeting will be attended by 11 other heads of state: Alexander Van der Bellen (Austria), Rumen Radev (Bulgaria), Alexander Stubb (Finland), Frank-Walter Steinmeier (Germany), Constantine Tassoulas (Greece), Sergio Mattarella (Italy), Edgars Rinkēvičs (Latvia), Karol Nawrocki (Poland), Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa (Portugal), Peter Pellegrini (Slovakia) and Nataša Pirc Musar (Slovenia).

Together, they will discuss the risks posed and opportunities presented by AI that will affect the whole world. “AI has become a part of our everyday lives, opening up so many possibilities, but bringing with it anxiety and uncertainty as well,” President Karis noted. “Education is key here: if schools lay the foundations for the smart use of AI, the following steps will be much safer and much easier. To that end, I have launched a programme in Estonia that is designed to foster young people’s AI literacy.”

The heads of state will also be discussing security issues in a situation where Europe – and the rest of the world – is being shaken by Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, the conflict in Gaza and the hybrid deployment of various threats. “We must look for ways to end warfare and to prevent old conflicts from flaring up again, without abandoning the principles on which the global order has been based since World War II,” President Karis said. “If we fail to defend and to reinforce the international order, power politics will dominate, with smaller countries being marginalised and their voices losing what modest influence they have had. That is why my colleagues and I will also be discussing the reform of the United Nations and the Security Council, the bolstering of Europe’s ability to defend itself, and how best to respond to the simultaneous emergence of varied threats.”

The meeting will start on 9 October with a dinner to be held in cooperation with the Tallinn Digital Summit, an international forum taking place at the same time at which experts, policymakers and the heads of technology companies will be discussing digital development and new technologies. This will provide additional opportunities for high-level discussions on digital governance.

The Arraiolos Group is a format for informal meetings between European heads of state not involved in the work of the European Council. It was initiated by President Jorge Sampaio of Portugal in 2003. The group takes its name from the Portuguese city in which the first meeting was held, attended by the heads of state of Austria, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Poland and Portugal. Several other countries have since joined the group. Topical issues concerning the EU and the world are discussed at the meetings.