During his visit to Brussels the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan Erlan Idrissov has held a separate bilateral talks with Linus Linkevičius, the Foreign Affairs Minister of Lithuania holding the Presidency of the EU, and the European Commissioner for Development Andris Piebalgs. READ MORE

Armenia pays a high price for joining the Customs Union. READ MORE

The new mantra of 'muscular soft power' is designed to fight insurgencies and prepare states to defend themselves while building up infrastructure and civic institutions. READ MORE

Armenia will not lose its independence after joining the Russian-led customs union, Russia’s ambassador in Yerevan, Ivan Volynkin, insisted on Friday, strongly denying that Moscow is keen to recreate the former Soviet Union.  READ MORE

Sir, While expressing my deep appreciation of a profound analysis offered by the FT in the article “Which way to turn?” (November 12) I still believe it is worth adding some highlights as well as reinforcing some conclusions. READ MORE

NATO Deputy Secretary General Ambassador Alexander Vershbow on Thursday (14 November 2013) called on senior representatives from defence industry and Allied governments to forge closer ties at this year’s NATO-Industry Forum held in Istanbul, Turkey. “We are faced with increasingly complex global security challenges and shrinking defence budgets in many of our NATO nations. These two factors combined mean that effective security today requires a new level of multinational cooperation,” Ambassador Vershbow said. READ MORE

Kazakhstan is the most active and reliable partner of NATO in Central Asia, and the North Atlantic Alliance hopes to maintain the rates of cooperation with the Republic of Kazakhstan in the sphere of further stabilization in Afghanistan, fighting terrorism, drugs trafficking, as well as assurance of international security and stability, reports Kazinform. READ MORE

Russian President Putin is set to arrive in Seoul with a long list of issues, including plans for a rail link that could ultimately link Europe to South Korean ports. The main stumbling block is likely to be Pyongyang. READ MORE

The European Commission decided to prepare an in-depth analysis of Germany's persistently high current account surplus to find out if it is a sign of a serious imbalance in Europe's biggest economy. READ MORE

Indian Premier Manmohan Singh’s October 21–22 visit to Moscow not only reaffirmed traditional Indo-Russian amity, it also revealed significant trends in Asian developments that affect both parties as well as other key players like the United States, China and Pakistan. READ MORE