On September 29-30, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) held the Regional Forum for the CIS “Universal, Meaningful, and Affordable Connectivity for an Inclusive and Sustainable Digital Future” in cooperation with the Communication Service under the Government of the Republic of Tajikistan.
Yerbol Absalyamov, Executive Director of the Institute of Smart Systems and Artificial Intelligence (ISSAI) at Nazarbayev University, participated as a speaker in the session “Artificial Intelligence for Digital Development and Innovation”, moderated by Farid Nakhli Programme Coordinator at International Telecommunication Union. His contribution, titled “Building AI for Our Languages: From Kazakhstan’s Experience to Regional Collaboration,” was also published by ITU among the official documents of the Regional Development Forum for the CIS 2026.
The session focused on the implementation of the fifth ITU Regional Initiative for the CIS, dedicated to artificial intelligence for digital development and innovation. In his contribution, Yerbol presented Kazakhstan’s experience in developing AI technologies for local and underrepresented languages and highlighted opportunities for regional collaboration.
A particular focus was placed on Qolda, an AI model developed by ISSAI under the grant funded by the Science Committee of the Ministry of Higher Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan (program targeted funding BR24993001). The project is implemented by a consortium led by Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, with ISSAI, the Til-Qazyna Scientific-Practical Center, the A. Baitursynov Institute of Linguistics, and the Institute of Information and Computational Technologies.
The presentation covered Qolda’s benchmarking results, including Qolda-AVL, the model development pipeline, and practical implementation cases. The contribution also highlighted the importance of regional cooperation in developing small language models and AI systems for underrepresented languages.
Kazakhstan was also represented by government institutions and organisations across several sessions of the Forum, including Damir Seisembekov, Chairman of the Telecommunications Committee of the Ministry of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan, who participated in the opening high-level session.
Other speakers and high-level participants at the Forum included H.E. Jamol Makhsudov, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Digital Technologies of Uzbekistan; Isabelle Mauro, Director General of the Global Satellite Operators Association; Alexey Borodin, Director General of the Regional Commonwealth in the Field of Communications; and Dr. Cosmas Luckyson Zavazava, Director of the ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau.
The Forum provided an opportunity to share Kazakhstan’s experience with an international audience and strengthen dialogue on the development of AI technologies tailored to the linguistic and digital needs of the CIS region. ISSAI’s work on Qolda demonstrated the Institute’s contribution to advancing language-focused AI research and fostering regional collaboration.