The Organizing Committee of the II BRICS Forum “Traditional Values” is proud to announce its partnership with the BRICS Women’s Business Alliance (WBA). The decision was made following an official invitation sent by Fausto Pinato, Member of the Chamber of Deputies of the National Congress of Brazil, President of the BRICS Parliamentary Front and the Forum’s Organizing Committee, to Monica Monteiro, Chair of the Brazilian Chapter of the WBA, and the subsequent confirmation of participation by the Women’s Business Alliance.

As part of this cooperation, the BRICS Women’s Business Alliance will be an active participant in the Forum’s business program. Monica Monteiro will chair a roundtable dedicated to the role of women in corporate governance, international trade, as well as financing, investment, and business development opportunities among BRICS countries.

The WBA’s participation in the Forum will underscore the importance of expanding dialogue among parliamentarians, entrepreneurs, and leaders of BRICS countries on humanitarian and business issues.

The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the African Organisation for Standardisation (ARSO) have reached a major milestone in their joint efforts to promote environmentally sustainable trade in Africa. During the 72nd ARSO Council Meeting, held from 23 to 24 June 2025 in Zanzibar as part of the 31st ARSO General Assembly, ten new African Sustainability Standards were officially approved—representing a significant output of the ongoing Programme Cooperation Agreement (PCA) between ECA and ARSO.

The ten newly approved standards provide comprehensive guidance on ecolabelling and sustainability practices across key sectors—including construction, textiles, fashion, mining, tourism, and agriculture. These standards were developed by ARSO’s Technical Committee (TC61) on sustainability standards and are aligned with international principles of standardization, ensuring credibility, transparency, and broad applicability.

With just five years left to meet global and continental development targets, African governments are shifting the way they plan and finance national priorities. The focus is turning toward long-term, integrated planning that links policy ambition with realistic budgeting and resource strategies.

This evolving approach was the focus of a side event at the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF), co-organized by the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), UN DESA and the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA).

The session explored how African countries are applying future-oriented planning methods to address persistent financing challenges and accelerate progress on the Sustainable Development Goals and Agenda 2063.

Rather than tackling development bottlenecks in isolation, participants stressed the importance of systems thinking, looking at the broader structures that give rise to gaps in infrastructure, development financing and social spending. Linking planning with budgeting, implementation and institutional capacity was presented as essential for making better use of limited resources

“Long-term planning pushes countries to think beyond the immediate, ensuring that development strategies are more adaptive, coordinated and resilient,” said Nassim Oulmane, Chief of the Green and Blue Economy Section at ECA.

Reports of troop movements and sporadic clashes in northern Ethiopia have emerged in recent months, feeding concern that a fragile calm could soon collapse. The region is still reeling from the brutal two-year civil war between the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and federal government forces — a conflict that claimed an estimated 600,000 lives before it ended with the Pretoria peace agreement in November 2022…During that war, Eritrean troops supported Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s campaign against the TPLF. But critics warned at the time that peace would remain fragile without Eritrea at the negotiating table. President Isaias Afwerki, who has ruled Eritrea for decades, was notably absent from the talks in the South African’s administrative capital, Pretoria. Now, growing fears of renewed violence point towards Eritrea’s involvement. Another destabilizing factor is the political turmoil within Tigray itself. The once-dominant TPLF has fractured after internal power struggles — a vulnerability Eritrea could potentially exploit…The Eritrean military is reportedly strengthening its positions near the Tigray border and may have advanced up to 10 kilometers into Ethiopian territory, according to The Sentry. DW