15–19 June 2026, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the ReSPA, with the support of the European Union’s Global Gateway initiative, are bringing together public officials, regulators, civil society representatives and professionals from the Western Balkans, Ukraine, Moldova and Armenia for an intensive training on “AI governance in practice: developing secure and innovative frameworks.”

The five-day face-to-face programme marks another important step in strengthening regional cooperation, institutional readiness and practical capacities for the responsible governance of artificial intelligence. The course crates a unique space for peer learning, exchange of experience and joint reflection on one of the most important governance challenges of today.

The training opens with official remarks by Jaroslaw Ponder, Head of ITU Europe, Draško Milinović, General Manager of Communications Regulatory Agency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Bojana Bajić from ReSPA, who underlined the importance of strong partnerships in supporting administrations to respond to the opportunities and risks brought by emerging technologies.

Throughout the programme, participants worked with experts on key topics such as AI governance foundations, transparency, cybersecurity, data governance, ethical principles, legal and regulatory frameworks, regulatory sandboxes, risk mapping, and cross-border policy coordination. The training combines expert inputs with highly practical methods, including scenario simulations, design thinking labs, stakeholder mapping, role-play exercises, gallery walks, peer feedback and policy prototyping.

Particular attention is placed on the real-life implications of AI in public administration and critical sectors such as healthcare, public services, finance, education, justice, smart cities and cybersecurity. Through interactive exercises, participants examined how AI systems affect citizens’ rights, institutional trust, public service delivery and democratic accountability.

The programme also focused on the balance between innovation and responsibility. Participants explored how administrations can enable the use of AI while ensuring transparency, human oversight, fairness, data protection, cybersecurity safeguards and respect for human rights. Sessions also addressed global regulatory developments, including risk-based and rights-based approaches, the EU AI Act, OECD principles, UNESCO recommendations and other emerging international standards.

A core added value of the training is its collaborative and regional approach. Participants worked in national and cross-regional teams to identify common risks, compare institutional approaches and develop practical governance tools tailored to their contexts. This peer-to-peer exchange helped administrations better understand shared challenges, avoid fragmented responses and build stronger foundations for regional and international policy coherence.

Participants co-developed and presented five-year AI governance roadmaps for their institutions or national contexts. These roadmaps included priority risks, policy milestones, oversight mechanisms, stakeholder engagement strategies and alignment with international best practices.

Through this joint initiative, ITU and ReSPA reaffirm their commitment to supporting public administrations in the Western Balkans and Eastern Neighbourhood in building secure, ethical, inclusive and innovation-friendly AI governance frameworks. The Sarajevo training demonstrates that responsible AI governance is not only a technical or regulatory issue, but a shared public administration priority requiring cooperation, expertise and long-term institutional vision.