Under the provisions of the new constitution the President will be a symbolic head of state with no executive powers

The swearing in of a new president by the National Assembly will mark the end of a constitutional transition process making Armenia a parliamentary republic

Catholicos Patriarch of all Georgians Ilya II officiated at a service to mark Easter Saturday and the feast of the annunciation, which this year co-incided

A Vatican statement said: "Pope Francis and Sargsyan also touched upon issues related to the political context of the region and expressed hope for the solution of situations of conflict".

The 18th Mid-term Ministerial meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) was opened on Thursday (5 April) by President Ilham Aliyev. Representatives of 120 countries and a number of observer states are participating.

Risks of further violence in and around Karabakh remain high, but experts also see some opportunities for peace in the domestic and international context

Turkey is pushing for the soonest delivery of the missile system, origninally planned to start at the end of 2019 or beginning of 2020, as part of a USD 2 billion deal.

President Putin of Russia, who begins an official visit to Ankara today, will, together with Turkish president Recip Tayip Erdogan, join the ground breaking cermeony by video link from Ankara.

Russia is to make a major naval redeployment, moving its Caspian Flotilla from Astrakhan to Kaspiysk, which is 18 km south east of the capital of Daghestan, Makhachkala.

World leaders will converge on Baku and Yerevan over the next months for the summits of La Francophonie and the Non Aligned Movement. A wonderful development, writes Dennis Sammut, but it would be even better if South Caucasus leaders can also meet together to address the challenges of the region