Agreement on the Establishment of the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization

Record INT-15

Issued by: Signatory governments (29 founding member countries); signing hosted by China in Shanghai
Jurisdiction: World AI Cooperation Organization (WAICO)
Level · region: International · Global
Published / adopted: 2026-07-16
Language: Not confirmed (multilingual treaty text not reviewed)

Summary

Agreement signed in Shanghai on 16 July 2026 by representatives of 29 countries, which became its founding members, establishing the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization (WAICO) as an independent intergovernmental international organisation headquartered in Shanghai. WAICO follows the purposes of the UN Charter and aims to promote international cooperation and global governance on AI and to ensure the healthy, orderly development of AI in a beneficial, safe and fair direction. It is to help bridge the AI divide by supporting Global South countries and is open to all countries.

Language

No English version is recorded for this record yet. The English title may be the register's own rendering, and the summary was written from the sources below; for the exact wording use the Not confirmed (multilingual treaty text not reviewed) text.

Safety topics

international cooperation

Scope

Borderline scope A treaty creating an international organisation for AI cooperation and governance; safety content is the stated aim of safe, fair development rather than any rule. Include with a scope note.

Open question

language is unsupported and the checker gave no evidence-backed fix Issue #109

The record shows its last checked values until a maintainer decides; the decision is recorded in its history.

Status notes

Foreign Minister Wang Yi signed for China; the named signatories include Kazakhstan, Laos, Pakistan, Russia and Indonesia, and UN Secretary-General António Guterres attended the ceremony. The agreement remained open for signature until 31 July 2026; Georgia's ambassador signed it in Beijing on that day. The Chair's Statement of the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference (17 July 2026) reports the signing, calls WAICO the world's first intergovernmental international organisation on AI, lists its guiding principles (the UN Charter, sovereignty and the diversity of civilisations, equality, multilateralism) and says it will maintain communication with other international organisations. China's Premier Li Qiang had announced the proposal to establish WAICO in July 2025, on the day the Global AI Governance Action Plan (CN-11) was released, with headquarters in Shanghai then under consideration.

Sources

Open the official source https://www.mfa.gov.cn/eng/wjbzhd/202607/t20260717_11984747.html

Secondary source: https://www.mfa.gov.cn/mfa_eng/xw/zyxw/202607/t20260717_11984715.html

Local copy

Archived. Last attempt 2026-10-17 16:30:02 UTC

Official source (third-party copy, not published) archive/INT-15/2026-10-11/official.html

Retrieved 2026-10-11 13:58:01 UTC

SHA-256 8d57123e9f85ed2705b364e57aa8d1f3c46c9d851ea5748bf0ef7fb6d68ef78c

Secondary source (third-party copy, not published) archive/INT-15/2026-10-11/secondary.html

Retrieved 2026-10-11 13:58:03 UTC

SHA-256 c7a9044a12440bf652f44c6136810b51eeb2d018b0e19dca73b50b5ddc8d0c69

Verification

The instrument's own official text, or an official register, was stored and confirms the title, date and status. checked 2026-10-17 · official-url-fetched

Stored and read in this run: the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs report on the signing ceremony (16 July 2026); the MFA's English text of the Chair's Statement of WAIC 2026 (17 July 2026); the MFA's text of Deputy Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu's remarks at the High-Level Meeting on Global AI Governance (page updated 30 July 2025), which reports Premier Li Qiang's announcement of the WAICO proposal that morning; and the Embassy of Georgia in China's report of 31 July 2026 on Georgia's signature. They confirm the title, the signing on 16 July 2026, the 29 founding signatories, the Shanghai headquarters, the purposes summarised and the close of signature on 31 July 2026. The text of the agreement itself, with its languages, its entry-into-force clause and its functions, is not stored; no official page seen in this run publishes it. The status rests on the signing as the latest event.

Second check: Independent check by Claude Code (claude-sonnet-5-5), 2026-10-17: 5 field(s) supported, fixes applied to scope_note.

History

2026-10-17scope_note: – → A treaty creating an international organisation for AI cooperation and governanc — pipeline run 2026-10-17-recheck-international-2 (recheck), candidate INT-152026-10-17-recheck-international-2 · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)
2026-10-17notes: First proposed by China at WAIC in July 2025. Signed in Shanghai on 16 Jul 2026 → Foreign Minister Wang Yi signed for China; the named signatories include Kazakhs — 'first proposed by China at WAIC in July 2025' restated as the stored MFA remarks have it (Premier Li Qiang announced the proposal in July 2025, the day the Global AI Governance Action Plan was released); the close of signature on 31 July 2026 and Georgia's signature added; the remarks on provisional status and on the region setting moved out of the notes2026-10-17-recheck-international-2 · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)
2026-10-17summary: Treaty creating WAICO, described by China as the first intergovernmental interna → Agreement signed in Shanghai on 16 July 2026 by representatives of 29 countries, — rewritten from the MFA texts; 'described by China as' dropped and the stated aims restated as the MFA gives them2026-10-17-recheck-international-2 · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)

Related records

Global AI Governance Action Plan China · Published (non-binding, current)

GAIGI China · Published (non-binding, current)

Citation

Signatory governments (29 founding member countries); signing hosted by China in Shanghai. Agreement on the Establishment of the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization. 2026-07-16. https://www.mfa.gov.cn/eng/wjbzhd/202607/t20260717_11984747.html. Status: Adopted, not yet in force; verified 2026-10-17 (level A). Local copy archive/INT-15/2026-10-11/official.html retrieved 2026-10-11 13:58:01 UTC, SHA-256 8d57123e9f85ed2705b364e57aa8d1f3c46c9d851ea5748bf0ef7fb6d68ef78c. Every AI Policy Ever, version 1.18 (snapshot 2026-10-18), record INT-15.

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