Press Releases
ASEAN AI Summit Focus Session
October 7, 2026
On October 6, as part of the program of the ASEAN AI Summit, the Government of Japan virtually hosted the ASEAN-Japan Focus Session "Advancing ASEAN-Japan Co-Creation Initiative for AI."
- The Focus Session was attended by Mr. YONETANI Koji, Ambassador, Mission of Japan to ASEAN, Mr. HANADA Takahiro, Deputy Director-General, Economic Affairs Bureau, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), a representative from Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) and Mr. Leandro Angelo Y. Aguirre, Undersecretary, Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) of the Philippines, as well as public- and private-sector stakeholders from ASEAN member states.
- In the session, Deputy Director-General HANADA made the following remarks.
- To harness AI as a driver of growth and innovation while minimizing its risks, it is essential to co-create a "safe, secure, and trustworthy AI" ecosystem together with trusted partners.
- Japan is promoting "vertical AI," which is cost-efficient in terms of investment and energy consumption and specialized in specific domains, as well as "physical AI," which builds on Japan's strength in manufacturing. Japan wishes to build "trustworthy AI" together with other countries.
- Under the "ASEAN-Japan Co-Creation Initiative for AI" launched at last year's Japan-ASEAN Summit, Japan is working to advance concrete AI cooperation with Southeast Asian countries, taking into account the needs of each country.
- Specifically, Japan is promoting co-creation of AI solutions, institutional development and governance including the Hiroshima AI Process (HAIP) and AI safety and security, human resource development and capacity building, and infrastructure support including development of AI models reflecting Asia's diverse languages and cultures as well as data centers.
- Japan wishes to continue promoting cooperation in the field of AI as a "trusted partner.
- Subsequently, MIC introduced its ongoing initiatives in ASEAN as well as proposals for AI utilization for MSMEs, followed by presentations from Japanese AI companies on their business activities in ASEAN.