Latest news in Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, summary. Live

● The 13th session of the UN World Urban Forum (WUF13) is being held in Baku from 17 to 22 May. The forum is jointly organized by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) and the government of Azerbaijan. On the UN website, the forum’s theme is described as: “Call to Action: Housing for All: Safe and Sustainable Cities and Communities.” Head of UN-Habitat Anacláudia Rossbach described the situation as a “global housing crisis.” According to the UN, nearly 2.8 billion people today live in inadequate housing conditions, while more than 300 million people are homeless. By 2050, around 70% of the world’s population is expected to live in cities, significantly worsening the crisis.

● “For Azerbaijan, this forum is not only an urban development summit. The country intends to share with the world the experience it has gained in implementing reconstruction projects in territories liberated from occupation by Armenian forces, as well as in building settlements based on the concepts of ‘smart villages’ and ‘green energy,’” local media reported.

● The European Union expects positive outcomes from the WUF13 session, EU Ambassador to Azerbaijan Marijana Kujundžić said. She highlighted the global housing crisis as a problem requiring joint international efforts. According to her, the European Union has already begun taking steps in this direction, including institutional reforms. “For the first time, the EU now has a commissioner for energy and housing policy. A plan for open and effective housing provision has also been developed,” the ambassador said.

● More than 40,000 participants from 182 countries have registered to attend WUF13 in Baku. Presidents of Serbia, Bulgaria, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Mauritius, along with senior officials from other countries, have arrived in Azerbaijan. Secretaries-general of the Gulf Cooperation Council, the Organization of Turkic States and the Developing Eight Organization for Economic Cooperation (D-8) are also taking part.

● Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Oleksii Kuleba arrived in Baku to participate in the WUF13 forum.

● Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze is expected to arrive in Baku today to attend the WUF13 forum.

● On the first day of the WUF13 forum on Sunday, a ministerial meeting, a ministerial roundtable and minister-level panel discussions were held.

● President Ilham Aliyev held bilateral meetings with the presidents of Serbia, Bulgaria and Kenya, as well as with the UAE minister of energy and infrastructure.

● Aleksandar Vučić published a post on X calling Ilham Aliyev “a great friend of Serbia.” “We discussed further strengthening the strategic partnership between Serbia and Azerbaijan. I am confident new areas of cooperation will open up for us in the near future,” Vučić wrote.

● Natural gas exports from Azerbaijan to Serbia and construction of a joint gas-fired power plant in the city of Niš demonstrate that energy cooperation between the two countries is already producing practical results, participants said during a business meeting with entrepreneurs attended by Aleksandar Vučić. “There is an opportunity to increase trade turnover between Serbia and Azerbaijan fivefold,” the Serbian president said during the meeting. It was announced that representatives of a group of Azerbaijani companies would travel to Serbia on a business mission to identify new opportunities for joint projects.

● “The European Parliament comes and begs Azerbaijan whenever it needs oil and gas. I expected Azerbaijan to stop cooperating with the European Parliament. Members of the European Parliament often behave arrogantly and lecture those who are more successful than they are themselves,” Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić told journalists while commenting on his meeting with President Ilham Aliyev.

● Slovakia is proposing to join efforts with Azerbaijan to jointly address climate challenges, Slovak Deputy Prime Minister Tomáš Taraba told journalists on the sidelines of the World Urban Forum in Baku.

● Tomáš Taraba said Slovakia intends to sign a gas supply contract with Azerbaijan for at least 10 years. “We are currently discussing which pipelines can be used and in what volumes. We are also grateful that during the supply crisis, for example from Ukraine several months ago, Azerbaijan was very active in ensuring deliveries to Slovakia,” Taraba said.

● Azerbaijan’s national team finished second at the European U17 Wrestling Championships.

● Baku and the Absheron Peninsula recorded a long-term rainfall record in May. By today, precipitation levels had already reached 355–523% of the monthly norm. The previous record was set in May 1963, when rainfall exceeded the long-term average by 5.4 times.

● Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan responded to statements by several senior Russian officials that Armenia cannot simultaneously be part of both the European Union and the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). “We understand this perfectly well, and it is obvious that in the future we will need to make an appropriate decision. That decision will, of course, be made by the citizens of Armenia. At the moment, however, there is no such necessity,” Grigoryan said.

● Mutual insults are increasingly accompanying political slogans during Armenia’s campaign ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for 7 June. Former President Robert Kocharyan described current Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan as an “ambal” — a derogatory Russian slang term referring to someone with physical strength but primitive intellect. Pashinyan, during meetings with voters, has also begun using the same term in reference to Kocharyan.

● Artur Khachatryan, a member of opposition alliance Armenia Alliance, which is known for its pro-Russian reputation, accused Armenia’s Foreign Ministry of not knowing how 12 million euros provided by the European Union to counter hybrid threats during the pre-election period had been spent. Khachatryan said the ministry responded to his inquiry by saying “we do not know.” He quoted from a letter stating that the funds had been distributed, among others, to the Central Election Commission, NGOs and independent journalists. “It turns out the government is not interested in who received EU funds, how much they received, or for what purposes,” Khachatryan said.

● Armen Hovhannisyan, who had mental health problems, died by suicide in a psychiatric hospital in Nubarashen. He had previously been detained for tearing down an election campaign poster, after which Armenia’s Investigative Committee launched an inquiry into the incident.

● Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan held a phone conversation with Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, congratulating him on his birthday. The two sides also discussed aspects of bilateral relations.

● Yerevan hosted its traditional “Night of Museums” on the night of 18 May. On this day, visitors can enter any museum in Armenia free of charge and remain there until midnight. Exhibition halls across the country are traditionally crowded during the annual event, and this year was no exception. May 18 marks International Museum Day, which this year was held under the slogan “Museums Unite a Divided World.”

Top stories in Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Georgia from 11-15 May, 2026