Damascus, The Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates announced Sunday that Damascus joins Global Artificial Intelligence (AI) Governance Initiative, launched by Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Third Belt and Road Forum. Syria welcomes the global initiative which calls on the countries to strengthen and comply with the ethics system of international collaborative research activities in the field of artificial intelligence, the Ministry said in a statement. 'Syria supports reaching an international agreement on the issue of ethics of artificial intelligence governance on the basis of broad participation, and working to formulate a framework, standards and rules for international governance, with full respect for the principles and practices of national AI governance existing in various countries,' the ministry added. The ministry said that Syria affirms the importance of this initiative in establishing a set of controls that must be followed with respect to artificial intelligence governance, including the prioritization of ethics, and special accountability mechanisms. The ministry concluded that Syria thanks the Chinese President and the People's Republic of China for their its great interest and rich contributions to promoting everything that is good for humanity. Source: Syrian Arab News Agency