In an impassioned video appeal the leader of Georgian Dream (GD) party, Bidhzina Ivanishvili, called on the Georgian people not to lose the gains achieved in the last six years, but also promised that henceforth he will himself play a more direct role in the governing of the country.

Armenian media reports said that prime minister Nikol Pashinyan on Sunday visited the line of contact in the Karabakh conflict zone. Earlier the prime minister had written on his facebook page that he was going on holiday

Interior Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Saud bin Nayef bin Abdulaziz met president Ilham Aliyev on Sunday. The prince is one of the most senior Saudi officials to visit Azerbaijan in recent times. The prince has in last days visited a number of other countries in the region

The Government of Ukraine and the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople have signed an agreement on co-operation and collaboration. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I signed the agreement in Istanbul on Saturday during the official visit of president Poroshenko to Turkey.

Opposition sources say the main issues during the one-hour audience were the presidential election and the draft law on cultivation and export of cannabis.

The diplomats from France, Russia and the US stressed the importance of sustaining a climate of trust for intensive negotiations on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

"As for the repeated statements of Nikol Pashinyan about the need to involve the Nagorno-Karabakh party in the negotiations, we have already commented on them. This is an issue that must be resolved by the parties to the conflict themselves", Lavrov said

The CSTO will discuss the appointment of a new secretary general at its next summit in Astana, scheduled to be held on November 8.

The measure was announced after a meeting between senior officials and the Patriarch on Friday

The visit comes as the co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk process that is trying to mediate a solution to the Karabakh conflict are visiting the region.