German Chancellor Olaf Scholz travelled to Beijing on Friday for a one-day visit, which included a meeting with China's leader President Xi Jinping. The visit has been criticised in some quarters but has been welcomed by German business leaders, some of who accompanied Scholz on the trip. Scholz’s visit reflects the importance of Germany’s trade ties with China, the world’s second-largest economy, particularly in the auto and manufacturing sectors. Mercedes Benz alone sold 758,863 cars in China last year, more than in any other country, according to company figures. The visit is the first by a European leader to China following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in November. China has given diplomatic cover to Russia but has stopped short of actively supporting the Russian invasion. Scholz received a formal welcome from Xi, who was recently reappointed head of the ruling Communist Party, at the Great Hall of the People in the heart of Beijing. Xi noted that Scholz’s visit comes as the two countries mark more than 50 years of diplomatic relations dating back to when they relaunched economic exchanges, despite their Cold War rivalry, that remain a key part of the relationship to this day. “At present, the international situation is complex and changeable,” Xi was quoted as saying by state broadcaster CCTV. “As influential powers, China and Germany should work together in times of change and chaos to make more contributions to world peace and development.”

Dr Stepan Grigoryan, the Chairman of the Board of the Analytical Centre on Globalization and Regional Cooperation, is a respected analyst and opinion-shaper in Yerevan who has over many years been a moderate voice in what has often been a toxic inter-Armenian debate on the prospects for peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan and in the wider region. He spoke to commonspace.eu in Tbilisi on 22 October 2022 about the current state of the Armenia-Azerbaijan peace process, recent events surrounding it, and prospects for the future. Speaking about the current political situation in Armenia Stepan Grigoryan said "We have a strong civil society, active NGOs and active experts, and they act like pillars of independence in Armenia. And this civil society also criticises Nikol Pashinyan, but they are trying to help him. Yes, I myself am sometimes not happy with what Nikol Pashinyan is doing, but I try to help him with my advice, with my publications, with my speeches. So in Armenia one should not only look at the political field - which is polarised - but civil society too. We shouldn’t think that we have an ideal government, they have made many mistakes, but they really want peace."

"After a long pause, on October 31, Russia brought together the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan in a meeting mediated by President Vladimir Putin in the Russian resort town of Sochi. Over the past year, ever since the November 26, 2021 summit in Sochi, Russia’s initiatives  in support of a peace process between the two South Caucasus republics did not  give results, while the major mediating role in the process was taken over by the European Union", writes Vasif Huseynov in this op-ed for commonspace.eu. The document shared following the trilateral meeting did not contain any provisions concerning critical issues such as the future of Nagorno-Karabakh or the Russian peacekeeping force in the region. "How will the the peace talks unfold in the immediate future, especially considering that the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan are supposed to meet in Brussels this month in accordance with the results of August 31 summit", asks Vasif Huseynov.

The summit of the League of Arab States opened in  the Algerian capital, Algiers, on Tuesday evening (1 November). In the opening address, Algerian president Abdelmadjid Tebboune called for a strong Arab economic block that protects the common interests of Arab countries. “We must all build a solid Arab economic block that protects our common interests, while working to define priorities and areas of common action, with an immediate and perceptible positive impact on the Arab peoples,” said President Tebboune in his speech to the participants in the 31st Arab Summit. “We still face complex crises with multiple challenges and risks, especially after the Covid-19 pandemic, which has led to instability, tug-of-war, and the exacerbation of the scourge of polarization. This situation has contributed to the proliferation of crises with effects on international peace and security and impact on several countries, particularly in terms of food security,” the Algerian president said. A number of heavyweights are missing from the Algiers summit, including Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia and Mohammed bin Zayed of the United Arab Emirates. Other Gulf countries, except Qatar will not be represented by their head of state. Another notable absentee is King Mohammed VI of Morrocco, who initially was thought would attend the summit.  AFP quoted Morocco’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Nasser Bourita, saying that Morocco’s monarch initially confirmed his willingness to attend the Algiers summit. “The Moroccan delegation did not receive any confirmation from Algeria through its channels” after inquiring about information on the arrangements for the King’s reception, Bourita said. On the instructions of the King, the Moroccan foreign minister is leading a delegation, representing Morocco during the summit meetings. Relations between Algeria and Morrocco have been strained for a long time because of differences on the future of the territory of Western Sahara.

The president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, on Monday (31 October) hosted in Sochi the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan, prime minister Nikol Pashinyan and president Ilham Aliyev. Putin met separately with the two leaders, before hosting a two-hour trilateral meeting to discuss the current state of Armenia-Azerbaijan relations. The highly choreographed meetings in the grand settings of the Kremlin's summer residence in Sochi did not, it seems, result in the expectations that the Russian leader had of the sessions. After concluding the discussions only Putin made press comments, saying that they could not agree on many issues, but that he still felt that the meeting was "useful". The Russian president said that many elements that had been included in the draft of the statement prepared by the experts had to be deleted. In the joint written statement eventually issued at the end of the meeting, the three leaders touched upon the current state of Armenia-Azerbaijan relations, and the role of Russia. The statement appeared to endorse most of what was included in the Prague statement of 6 October 2022 between the president of the European Council, the president of France and the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan. The statement appeared to give a nod to a continuing Russian military force in Nagorno-Karabakh, and spoke about dialogue between representatives of societies.