The energy ministers from Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey will launch two-day talks in Tbilisi on December 8 to negotiate the distribution of gas from the Shah-Deniz field.

The OSCE Council of Ministers has adopted a statement on Nagorno Karabakh, noting that "in 2006 the negotiations brought the positions of the parties closer to the agreement on the main principles of settlement of the Karabakh conflict."

President Saakashvili hinted on November 29 that Azerbaijan is willing to provide Georgia with natural gas, as Tbilisi desperately seeks alternative supplies to ease energy dependency on Russia.

The authorities in Azerbaijan have shut down the country's biggest independent broadcaster TV, ANS. They said ANS's licence was not renewed because it had violated the broadcasting law and disregarded official warnings and fines.

From the minute you arrive in Baku, you can smell the oil. In a glass jar it looks nothing like the black viscous substance one would expect, but more like petrol. Experts praise Azerbaijani oil as among the best in the world.

Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian spoke of 'some little progress' made at the Armenian-Azeri ministerial talks in Brussels earlier this week, but said the "moderate expectations" from the meeting with his Azeri counterpart Elmar Mamedyarov were not fully met.

Parliamentary speakers from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Russia met on a sideline of the CIS Parliamentary Assembly in St. Petersburg on November 16.