Kapetanović concludes US visit with calls for stronger partnerships and sustained engagement with South East Europe. 18 July 2026 RCC Secretary General holds meetings and takes part in high-level discussions in New York and Washington. Sarajevo/New York/Washington - Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) Secretary General Amer Kapetanović concluded a working visit to the United States of America this week, holding a series of meetings and taking part in discussions focused on sustainable development, regional cooperation and stronger international partnerships for South East Europe. In New York, Kapetanović participated in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) event "Bridging the Gaps to Accelerate the SDGs: Policy Coherence across Water, Energy, Industry and Cities", co-organised by the OECD, Spain, Italy and Romania and held during the 2026 United Nations High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development. Presenting a regional perspective on how successful solutions can be scaled up and translated into action, he highlighted the South East Europe 2030 Strategy as the region's common framework for implementing the Sustainable Development Goals through shared priorities, regional ownership and accountability. "South East Europe has shown that regional cooperation can turn common challenges into practical solutions, but lasting progress requires strong and sustained partnerships. Our region needs international engagement that supports regional ownership, strengthens resilience and helps us deliver tangible benefits to people and economies. The United States remains an important partner in this effort, and our discussions in New York and Washington confirmed that there is considerable scope to deepen that cooperation," said Kapetanović. On the margins of the New York meetings, the RCC Secretary General met OECD Deputy Secretary-General František Ružička to discuss expanding cooperation between the two organisations. Building on their successful work on sustainable foreign direct investment, the talks focused on inclusive growth, private-sector engagement, development financing and human capital. The RCC and OECD teams will continue consultations aimed at identifying concrete areas for future joint action. The visit continued in Washington, where Kapetanović addressed a discussion hosted by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and moderated by Ambassador Philip Reeker, Distinguished Fellow at the Wilson Center. Speaking to representatives of the diplomatic and policy community in Washington, D.C., Kapetanović presented the RCC's development and mandate, its role in advancing regional cooperation and the organisation's current priorities. He also reflected on the key challenges facing South East Europe and the importance of continued transatlantic engagement with the region. The discussion was followed by an exchange with participants on the region's European perspective, economic and social development, security and resilience, as well as the value of regional frameworks in translating political commitments into coordinated implementation. Kapetanović stressed that stronger cooperation with partners in the United States can support a more stable, connected and prosperous South East Europe.

CATF announces Steering Committee to guide global fusion materials database MatDB4Fusion. Clean Air Task Force (CATF) have announced the formation of the Steering Committee for the International Working Group on Materials Database for Fusion (IWG MatDB4Fusion), a global initiative designed to accelerate fusion energy development through improved access to high-quality, standardized materials data. MatDB4Fusion is a comprehensive, quality-controlled database for materials used in the fusion energy sector. It provides a centralised platform to share, access, and analyse the physical, thermomechanical, and chemical properties of materials relevant to fusion device design. This includes fusion-specific properties such as neutron irradiation effects, transmutation, plasma-material interactions, and other behaviors critical to the performance and safety of future fusion systems. "Establishing the Steering Committee marks a critical milestone in building the MatDB4Fusion platform as a truly integrated, cross-sector effort," said Sehila Gonzalez de Vicente, Global Director, Fusion at CATF. "By structuring and standardizing access to fusion materials data, we can unlock the application of advanced AI tools and accelerate the discovery and qualification of materials essential for fusion energy commercialization." CATF, through its leadership within the International Working Group on Materials Database for Fusion and in partnership with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's Nuclear Energy Agency (OECD-NEA) as the international database host, launched MatDB4Fusion to empower the global fusion community with the data needed to design the next generation of fusion power plants. "The success of commercial fusion power depends on the availability of structural materials capable of withstanding fusion's extreme operating conditions," said Dr. Arun Bhattacharya, Co-Director of the Fusion Engineering Centre for Doctoral Training and Deputy Head of Research at the University of Birmingham. "MatDB4Fusion will play a vital role in accelerating materials development and qualification by providing critical data to both private fusion companies and government programmes." The newly established Steering Committee will provide strategic oversight and governance for MatDB4Fusion, ensuring it evolves in line with global fusion research priorities while maintaining rigorous data quality and integrity standards. The committee brings together experts from public institutions, private industry, non-governmental organizations, and independent research communities, reflecting the broad coalition required to advance fusion energy. "The global fusion materials database from Clean Air Task Force provides a key opportunity to pool crucial knowledge of fusion materials, and accelerate the development of new solutions for all," said Richard Buttery, Director at DIII-D National Fusion Facility. "We are delighted to be supporting this with key data from DIII-D National Fusion Facility." Members of the Steering Committee include: * Andrew Sowder, Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) * Arunodaya Bhattacharya, Univ. of Birmingham * Cory Hamelin, UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) * Dirk Radloff, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) * Giacomo Aiello, EUROfusion * Gregory Sinclair, General Atomics * Jan Coenen, Forschungszentrum Jülich (FZJ) * Jim Pickles, Tokamak Energy * Thomas Davis, Oxford Sigma * Trevor Clark, Commonwealth Fusion Systems * Sehila Gonzalez de Vicente, CATF Secretary: * Philipp Lied, CATF / FusionCatalyst Permanent Observers: * Mark Gilbert, UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) * John Echols, US Department of Energy (DOE) The Steering Committee will convene for its inaugural meeting in the coming months, where members will finalize operational guidelines, review the current work plan, and begin establishing the Technical Advisory Group.

Evidence v. Urgency: the OECD's challenge of Gender Equality in the age of artificial intelligence. By Professor Ramona Vijeyarasa The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) recently hosted its second biennial Forum on Gender Equality. While the inaugural forum in 2024 examined the impact of the green, energy and digital transitions on women, this year's meeting focused squarely on technology. The shift reflects growing concern about AI-driven decision-making in employment and healthcare, the proliferation of deepfakes and other forms of technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TF-GBV) and the broader implications of these developments for gender equality. It would be fair to question whether this multilateral forum could move beyond its optimistically titled two-day meeting - "harnessing the digital transformation for all". Governments globally are trying to respond to the challenges posed by AI, yet technology continues to evolve faster than policymaking itself. As Stéphanie Lachat, Co-Director of Switzerland's Federal Office for Gender Equality observed, regulating technology can feel like trying to catch a train that has already left the station. The challenge posed by AI for gender equality is not technological alone. It is a test of whether law and regulation can keep pace with innovation. The Regulatory Dilemma The first notable takeaway is the difficulty for governments to manage AI's risks while capturing its benefits. Many equality ministers highlighted the potential of AI-enabled public services and how women entrepreneurs are drivers of digital innovation. France is using AI to detect discrimination in public-sector job advertisements; Norway is paying newspapers for access to their texts to develop Norwegian and Sámi language models; while Canada is investing in Tulong AI, a Filipino-Canadian collaboration to create more culturally intelligent systems using multilingual and cultural data. AI is also enabling faster healthcare decision-making in relation to cardiovascular disease and breast cancer detection and creating new opportunities for women-led businesses. Yet governments appeared just as conscious of the need to regulate against AI's harms - though less certain how. Digital violence against women remains widespread, limiting women's participation online. Women in politics are particularly exposed to TF-GBV, defined by the United Nations as any act committed, assisted, aggravated or amplified through the use of technology. Parents are also increasingly burdened with keeping children safe online, an issue particularly felt by women who continue to bear the greater responsibility for care. These challenges are unfolding at a moment when faith in the steady march of gender equality is beginning to waver. As French Minister for Equality between Women and Men and the Fight against Discrimination Aurore Bergé warned, digital violence is "an organised discourse" that risks destabilising not only women's rights but democratic institutions themselves. TF-GBV was repeatedly framed as more than a women's issue. When women are driven from public life due to online violence, its democracies become less representative - and everyone loses. The Race to Regulate Many countries want to be seen at the forefront of regulation. The second risk emerging from the Forum is that laws are rushed, replicated and celebrated before there is evidence they work. Australia was notably absent from the room, despite its proposed digital duty of care and Prime Minister Albanese's newly-announced plans for an AI framework for Australia. The absence was also surprising given the joint statement issued in June by Foreign Minister Penny Wong and UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper committing to combat gender-based violence online and offline. Communications Minister Anika Wells delivered a pre-recorded address highlighting Australia's social media ban for under-16s and the parental concerns that drove it. Yet the policy is already attracting international scrutiny amid emerging evidence that it is not achieving its intended effect. Against that backdrop, it was concerning to hear France - a country that seemed keen to lead the race to regulate - pursuing a social media ban for under-15s (if it can do so while complying with the EU's Digital Services Act), alongside similar proposals by the United Kingdom, Finland and Germany. By contrast, Ireland, Poland and the Slovak Republic appeared content to learn from developments elsewhere. South Korea sits somewhere in between, with ambitious policies and a newly-announced Inter-Agency Department on AI-related crimes, but gaps that still hinder the realisation of their benefits. A recurring theme throughout the forum was that responsibility for online safety cannot rest primarily with parents and young people. Whether Australia's social media ban achieves that objective remains open to question. If governments are serious about reducing online harms, accountability must be pushed back onto the platforms themselves - the very actors who were largely absent from the Paris debates. Rethinking the Narrative In this regulatory environment, both law and policy require a different narrative. UNESCO Deputy Director-General Åsa Regnér balked at the fact that women are powerhouses, yet International Affairs remain stuck in conversations about training women to use AI. The conversation clearly demands more nuance. While raised as an issue, according to OECD data, the gender gap in AI use is just 4.2 per cent. The much larger divide is generational: 53.6 per cent separates users aged 55-74 from those aged 16-24. This raises a question for regulators: how well do often much older policymakers understand the behaviours and attitudes of the young people whose digital lives they seek to govern? The same is true of men and masculinities. As Kevin McCarthy, Ireland's Secretary General of the Department of Children, Disability and Equality observed, International Affairs cannot speak only of toxic masculinity or view men and boys solely as perpetrators. Nor should International Affairs assume that the answer lies simply in promoting more positive forms of masculinity. Doing so requires recognising the broader context in which many young men live today. War, economic uncertainty and social change can increase vulnerability to provocative, divisive and emotionally charged content. Gender equality cannot be achieved by speaking only to women, nor by treating men and boys solely as part of the problem. Effective regulation must address harmful behaviours and content, but it must also reckon with the social and economic anxieties that make some young men susceptible to them in the first place. Where to Next? There is much to do: retain women in Information Communications Technology, ensure their experiences shape policy design and learn from what works rather than repeating mistakes. However, much of the discussion focused on adaptation - how women need to develop new skills and how International Affairs help parents keep children safe online. Less attention was paid to accountability: how governments can regulate the companies that design, deploy and profit from technologies that can deepen existing inequalities. Recent history suggests technology companies rarely act beyond what is required of them. International Affairs cannot build an intelligent future that is also an equal one without placing greater responsibility on those who design, deploy and profit from these technologies. Legislation must create incentives for good practice, regulate design where necessary and be backed by meaningful enforcement. Otherwise, International Affairs risk mistaking regulation for progress - and papering over a profound challenge with little more than legalese. Professor Ramona Vijeyarasa is the inaugural Chair in Gender and the Law at the University of Technology Sydney. A leading expert on gender and legal systems, she pioneered the Gender Legislative Index, a ground-breaking human driven, machine learning enabled tool that assesses the gender-responsiveness of legislation. Prof. Vijeyarasa's attendance at the OECD Gender Equality Forum was enabled by generous funding received by the Minderoo Foundation.