CEE AI Summit in Prague: Nine European Countries Agree Closer Cooperation on Artificial Intelligence

Nine Central and Eastern European countries intend to significantly deepen their cooperation in the field of artificial intelligence. At a summit in Prague, they adopted the so-called Prague AI Declaration.

The CEE AI Summit 2026 brought together more than 250 representatives from politics, business and research at Prague’s Martinic Palace (Martinický palác). The Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Croatia, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Slovenia and Romania are participating in the joint initiative.

By signing the declaration, the nine countries committed themselves to coordinating their positions on European AI policy more closely, connecting key computing infrastructure and systematically exchanging experience. The aim is to strengthen the region’s position within the European Union and play an active role in shaping new European rules on artificial intelligence.

“Today, we have taken an important step for the future of artificial intelligence in Europe,” said Czech Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Industry and Trade Karel Havlíček. No individual country could succeed alone in global competition. The agreements signed demonstrated that the shared objectives should lead directly to concrete projects.

AI Factories and Gigafactories to Be Connected

A central element of the cooperation is the interconnection of national technological capacities. These include specialised facilities known as AI Factories as well as planned AI Gigafactories, which are intended to provide extensive computing power for the development and application of powerful AI models.

Foto: Karel Havlíček | Facebook

In addition to the Prague Declaration, the participating countries signed specific declarations of intent on AI cooperation. These are intended to translate the agreed principles into joint projects and practical cooperation.

“The results of the summit show that our region can act confidently and collectively,” said the Czech government commissioner for artificial intelligence, Lukáš Kačena. The agreed framework will now be implemented through pilot projects for key sectors of the economy. The main topics discussed included healthcare, the defence industry, the automotive sector and the expansion of IT infrastructure. Artificial intelligence is expected to play an increasingly important role in these areas in the future.

Representatives from Politics, Research and Business

The summit was attended by senior representatives from politics, research and business, including several ministers from Central and Eastern Europe and the EU Commissioner for Start-ups, Research and Innovation, Ekaterina Zaharieva.

The Czech delegation included Industry Minister Karel Havlíček, government commissioner for artificial intelligence Lukáš Kačena and the rector of the Czech Technical University in Prague, Michal Pěchouček. The summit was organised by the Polish AI Chamber and the Czech National AI Platform in cooperation with the Czech Ministry of Industry and Trade.