Ahmed Abdel-Hakam, Partner at Volterra Fietta, has been appointed to the International Law Committee of the New York City Bar Association

On 3 August 2025, Algeria adopted Law No. 25‑12 of 3 August 2025 governing mining activities, which was published in the Official Journal No. 52 on 7 August 2025 (“New Mining Law”). The law repeals the previous mining regime established under Law No. 14-05 of 24 February 2014.

In September 2025, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (“ITLOS”) adopted amendments to its Guidelines concerning the Preparation and Presentation of Cases before the Tribunal (“Guidelines”).  The revised text updates the Guidelines that the Tribunal originally adopted in 1997.

Specialized press reported that on 8 May 2025, the Russian Federation (“Russia”) and the People’s Republic of China (“China”) reportedly signed a bilateral investment treaty “on the Promotion and Reciprocal Protection of Investments” (“BIT”), to update and put an end to the 2006 bilateral investment treaty previously signed by the countries (“2006 Agreement”).

On 24 September 2025, the National Competitive Centre (“NCC”) of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (“KSA”) published the “Draft of Arbitration Law” (the “Draft Arbitration Law” or the “DAL”), following the Council of Ministers’ June 2025 Resolution, as part of KSA’s efforts to modernise the regulatory framework of arbitration, with the objective of “enhancing perceptions of arbitration in the Kingdom, in a manner that positively reflects on the relevant international indicators”.