French President Hollande will host his Armenian and Azerbaijani counterparts for a summit focusing on the Karabakh conflict and its resolution.

The visit of Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier to Armenia and Azerbaijan this week was both timely and significant.

Armenian analyst Dr Eduard Abrahamyan argues in this article for commonspace.eu that changes in the regional and global situation are leading to a rethink of policies by Iran, Armenia and others.

Armenian Prime Minister Abrahamian met the Iranian President in Tehran on Monday. The two sides announced the creation of a new inter-governmental commission.

Diplomatic efforts continue ahead of a meeting in Paris between the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan.

In this op-ed for commonspace.eu Dennis Sammut discusses why support for Turkey at the UN General Assembly collapsed, and the options ahead for Turkish diplomacy.

Sargsyan and Salber exchanged views on their expectations of the tripartite meeting between the French, Armenian and Azerbaijani Presidents later this month.

Foreign Minister Elmar Mamadyarov said Azerbaijan is expecting serious progress at the meeting hosted by the French President at the end of October.

The exercises started on the same day that Russia and Azerbaijan signed a military co-operation agreement during a visit to Baku of Russian Defence Minister, Sergei Shoigu.

Welcoming the Russian Defence Minister to Azerbaijan, president Ilham Aliev said that relations between his country and Russia "were successfully and dynamically developing".