ABSTRACT
The meetings of 08 foreign ministers and their political directors have been useful over the years. The latter played a critical role in resolving the deadlock between the Russian Federation and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) countries over Kosovo in 1999, paving the way for UN Security Council Resolution 1244 that set in place interim arrangements for the territory following NATO's bombing campaign. However, if one looks back at political declarations from 08 and earlier 07 meetings - often catalogues of trouble spots and wishful thinking - the nearly inescapable conclusion is that their formal statements have proved evanescent, somewhat faddish, and rarely in any way incisive or influential.'
