Data Sovereignty

Policy Brief 148, 17 November 2025

From Fragmentation to Impact: Strengthening Southern Agency in Global AI Governance

By Vahini Naidu and Danish

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming production, trade and governance systems, yet global regulatory efforts remain fragmented and uneven. The multiplicity of forums, frameworks and initiatives, from UN processes to plurilateral and trade-centred mechanisms, has produced overlapping agendas and resulted in diminished participation from global South stakeholders. For developing countries, the challenge is to engage meaningfully in global AI governance while preserving national policy space and advancing sustainable development priorities.

This policy brief examines the evolving landscape of AI governance, focusing on its institutional fragmentation and the competing conceptions of regulation advanced through the UN, G20, BRICS, and other fora. It argues that coherent, development-oriented AI governance requires strengthening UN-anchored processes and linking AI regulation to industrial policy, innovation systems and data sovereignty. The brief concludes that inclusive, sustainable and responsible AI governance should support governments in enhancing their capacities to harness AI and emerging technologies to shape their digital transformation.

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South Centre Statement on UNCTAD XVI Conference, 23 October 2025

South Centre Statement on UNCTAD XVI Conference “Shaping the Future: Driving Economic Transformation for Equitable, Inclusive and Sustainable Development”

 23 October 2025, Geneva, Switzerland

At UNCTAD XVI, the South Centre reaffirmed that an equitable and effective multilateral system must reflect the right of developing countries to participate in and shape the rules of global economic governance, while preserving their policy space and data sovereignty. The success of the XVI Conference will be judged by the extent to which its outcome reaffirms the organisation’s development mission and its unique role in shaping a fairer global economic order.

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