Kathmandu – The Embassy of India has organized an event titled “AI for Inclusive Growth: Building Nepal’s AI Ready Future”.
The event was organized by the Embassy in partnership with the AI Association of Nepal on Friday. The event has been recognized as the official pre-summit of the AI Impact Summit to be held in New Delhi on 19-20 February 2026.
The main areas of discussion at the event included recent developments in Artificial Intelligence and the AI Impact Summit. The event was attended by over 400 participants from startups, government agencies, Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Robotics Association of Nepal, NAS IT, Fintech Alliance, AI Association of Nepal, academic institutions, think tanks and media.
Speaking at the event, Minister for Communications and Information Technology Jagdish Kharel discussed the AI-related initiatives of the Government of Nepal and the possibilities of collaboration in this area.
Similarly, Indian Ambassador to Nepal Naveen Srivastava explained the principles underlying India’s ‘AI for All’ vision. He emphasized that the upcoming AI Impact Summit aims to change the global discourse on AI by focusing on the ‘impact’ of AI in all aspects of human life and its future manifestations. He also encouraged Nepali youth to participate in large numbers in various AI challenges such as ‘AI for All and AI for Her’ and ‘YUVAI’.
Similarly, Amitabh Nag, CEO of Digital India Bhasini Division, gave a keynote presentation on the role of Bhasini in transforming public services in India in line with the spirit of ‘AI for All’.
Anirban Sharma, Director, Digital Societies Initiative, Observer Research Foundation, introduced the participants to the AI Impact Summit.
This was followed by a panel discussion on “Leveraging AI for Nepal’s Growth” moderated by Dr. Suresh Pokharel, Vice President of AI Association of Nepal. In this panel discussion, Mr. Adesh Khadka, Joint Secretary to the Government of Nepal, shared his vision for developing an AI policy for Nepal.
E. Bikash Gurung, President of Robotics Association of Nepal, elaborated on the initiatives taken to increase the adoption of robotics and AI among the youth of Nepal, while Shiksh Bhatt, Founder of Vriddhi Sangha explained why AI can be a key part of Nepal’s digital public infrastructure stack. Amitabh Nag and Anirban Sharma also participated in the discussion, sharing their experiences in the AI sector in India.
The AI Impact Summit to be held in February 2026 will include, among other things, three global challenges and a research symposium. For which, online applications can be submitted by visiting https://impact.indiaai.gov.in, according to the Indian Embassy.
