WAICO signatories reached 37 this week, two weeks after the Shanghai-headquartered body opened for signature, after eight more governments signed its founding agreement.
Assistant Foreign Minister Liu Bin met on July 31 with Brunei’s Minister of Transport and Infocommunications Mohammed Riza bin Dato Paduka Haji Mohammed Yunos, Togo’s digital transformation minister Cina Lawson, Iranian Ambassador Rahmani Fazli, Sudanese Ambassador Omer, and Vietnam’s chargé d’affaires Hoang Van Tuan, and witnessed their countries’ signature, according to a foreign ministry readout. Georgian Ambassador Kalandadze and Tanzanian Ambassador Suleiman signed the same day; Dominica’s Ambassador Charles had signed a day earlier, on July 30.
The ministry’s readout gave no cumulative figure. The 37 total is the sum of those eight and the 29 founding signatories reported by Xinhua on July 16.
WAICO opened for signature in Shanghai on July 16, a day before the annual World Artificial Intelligence Conference. Foreign Minister Wang Yi signed for China; UN Secretary-General António Guterres attended the ceremony.
No G7 economy and no EU member state has signed. Neither has the United States.
The founding group of WAICO spans 12 Asian and 10 African states, three in Europe — Belarus, Russia and Serbia — and four in the Americas: Brazil, Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela. Others include Kazakhstan, Laos, Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Cambodia, Oman, Algeria, Ethiopia, Kenya, Senegal, South Africa and the Republic of the Congo. No G7 economy and no EU member state has signed. Neither has the United States.
The organization is designed as an independent intergovernmental body headquartered in Shanghai, tasked with promoting international cooperation and global governance of AI under the purposes of the UN Charter and a people-centred approach. First proposed by Premier Li Qiang at the 2025 World Artificial Intelligence Conference, its agreement stresses that participation is open without conditions tied to political systems or values, and places weight on narrowing the technology gap between richer and poorer countries. At this year’s conference Xi Jinping pledged 5,000 AI training places for developing countries over five years, alongside cooperation centres with ASEAN, the African Union and BRICS.
Analysts including those writing for The Diplomat have read the body as a vehicle for offering developing countries access to models, infrastructure support and technical expertise outside Western-led frameworks, and as a counterweight to the US-led Pax Silica initiative.
Signing is not ratification, and the agreement’s entry-into-force terms for each state have not been made public.
