The states of the South Caucasus are trying to find their footing in an increasingly fragmented international landscape.

For decades, Gulf states have provided crucial financial assistance to Sudan. Gulf interest in Sudan is driven by economic benefits and geopolitical competition, though each country has its own interests and approach. 

China has become the number one provider of development finance in the world. Because of its significant share in Low and Middle Income Countries’ (LMICs) external debt, China should take up responsibilities and cooperate with traditional development finance providers, but its particular lending style and distinct approach to debt management pose many challenges and do not make international cooperation straightforward.

“Humanity has opened the gates of hell”, stated UN Secretary-General António Guterres at the Climate Ambition Summit in September 2023, emphasising that we are currently on a path of global warming above 2.4°C or even 2.9°C.

Never before have there been so many powers able to upset the international balance of power, and never before have the dominant powers seemed so powerless to counter the fragmentation of the world.

The deployment of the French Navy’s multi-mission frigate (FREMM) Bretagne in the Indo-Pacific in recent months demonstrates France’s capability to project power far from the mainland and solidifies its Indo-Pacific strategy.

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has triggered profound changes in the Arctic region, the consequences of which remain uncertain in the long term.

The United States of America (US), Canada and the European Union (EU) all now consider aluminum as strategic. This metal is indeed increasingly used, especially for the energy transition, be it for electric vehicles (EVs), electricity grids, wind turbines or solar panels.