Poland has said it wants the new EU president to be a quiet consensus-builder who will not try to aggrandise the post, in what looks like another blow to British candidate Tony Blair. READ MORE

On October 14 in Baku, Azerbaijan’s State Oil Company president Rovnag Abdullayev and Gazprom CEO Aleksei Miller signed an agreement on Azerbaijani gas exports to Russia. The move is a logical follow-up to the June 29 agreement, signed by the same company chiefs –in the presence of Presidents Ilham Alyiev and Dmitry Medvedev in Baku on that occasion– on the main principles of the gas trade between the two countries. READ MORE

In an exclusive interview, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden spoke with RFE/RL correspondents Brian Whitmore and Abubakar Siddique about the U.S. administration's policy on Russia, the Caucasus, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran. Biden assured Central and Eastern Europeans of the United States' commitment to the region, and said that the United States will not ignore concerns about democracy in dealing with Iran on its nuclear program. READ MORE

Czech President Vaclav Klaus is satisfied an EU proposal meets demands he made for an opt-out on the bloc's Lisbon Treaty, his office says. READ MORE

"The three Baltic States must act together in requesting their Alliance partners to work out, as soon as possible and taking into account the new threats, NATO defense plans for the Baltics," President Grybauskaitė said. READ MORE

Kazakhstan's President Nazarbayev said a strategic cooperation agreement signed with Turkey was of historic importance. READ MORE

On October 19, Turkey, Italy and Russia signed a memorandum of understanding on the Samsun-Ceyhan oil pipeline (SCP). Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz, the Italian Economic Development Minister Claudio Scajola and the Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, inked the agreement that regulates the commitments of the three partners to the SCP. Despite the several signing ceremonies organized in the past for the SCP, the construction work did not commence. READ MORE

Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who was officially nominated as candidate for president, told supporters that Kiev could build neighborly relations with Moscow, but its future lay with Europe. READ MORE

Renowned American expert on Eurasia, an expert on foreign policy, security and international relations and head of Russian-Eurasian programs at the Heritage Foundation, Ariel Cohen, spoke to Day.Az in an interview. READ MORE

Everyone agrees that the EU needs a powerful diplomatic corps to pull its global weight. But when it comes to creating the new service old turf battles could undermine a debate over the role of the new body. READ MORE