Estonia President’s India Visit Highlights AI Leap, Akshardham Stop and Bilateral Talks
Estonia’s presidential visit to India has combined cultural engagement with a focused policy push on artificial intelligence, as the delegation took part in the India AI Impact Summit 2026 and included a stop at Swaminarayan Akshardham in New Delhi.
Estonia’s AI agenda at the India AI Impact Summit 2026
Estonia’s presence at the India AI Impact Summit 2026 was marked by a set of concrete moves meant to deepen digital cooperation. Ambassador Marje Luup highlighted that the Estonian delegation welcomed high-level engagement at the summit and pointed to a new initiative introduced by the President: the AI Leap program. The program is described as an effort to bring AI into schools, underscoring a push to integrate artificial intelligence into education systems.
The Estonian delegation also signalled active participation across the summit schedule, with plans for side events where the President would speak. The summit, hosted at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi, served as the platform for Estonia to frame AI as a field of shared interest, concern and possibility, and to outline its approach to responsible, human-centric technology development.
Cultural visit and high-level bilateral talks
The President’s itinerary combined cultural outreach with diplomatic engagement. The visit included a visit to Swaminarayan Akshardham, reflecting a cultural component to the trip alongside the policy-focused summit work.
At Rashtrapati Bhavan, the President of India held talks with several visiting presidents, including the President of Estonia. Those meetings centred on artificial intelligence, digital cooperation and expanding bilateral ties. In that forum, the Indian President emphasised a "technology for public good" approach showcased at the AI Impact Summit and encouraged deeper collaboration across AI, cybersecurity, trade and innovation.
Alongside the bilateral agenda, the discussions touched on broader strategic momentum, with a welcome for external support toward concluding a proposed India-EU Free Trade Agreement. The convergence of summit activity, state-level meetings and cultural visits underlined a dual-track approach: advancing technical cooperation on AI while bolstering diplomatic and people-to-people connections.
Implications and next steps
The combination of an education-focused AI Leap initiative, planned side events featuring the Estonian President, and direct presidential-level conversations at Rashtrapati Bhavan signals an intention to translate summit dialogue into practical cooperation. Estonia’s emphasis on bringing AI into schools positions education as a first-order priority within broader AI collaboration, while meetings on cybersecurity, trade and innovation point to widening areas for joint work.
As the summit continued to draw international participation, Estonia’s twin track of public engagement and high-level diplomacy in New Delhi framed the visit as both symbolic and programmatic: a cultural stop and a launchpad for concrete AI and digital cooperation initiatives between the two countries.
