Franz Cede is legal adviser to the Austrian Foreign Ministry and has participated in numerous international conferences and bilateral negotiations. He was also a regular delegate to the General Assembly of the United Nations. In 1999 Dr. Ceded became Austrian Ambassador to the Russian Federation and since 2003 he is Austrian Ambassador to Belgium, also representing his country at NATO. Paul W. Meerts studied political science and international relations at the Universities of Amsterdam and Leiden. He has been Research Fellow on Dutch Political History at the Universities of Leiden and Groningen, as well as coordinator of diplomatic training at the Netherlands Society of International Affairs and the Netherlands Institute of International Relations 'Clingendael'. Since 1990 he is Deputy Director of the Clingendael Institute. As a consultant in Diplomatic Negotiation he trained diplomats and civil servants in more than seventy countries. He wrote on interstate bargaining, focusing on its political dimensions. Paul W. Meerts holds an honorary doctorate from the National University of Mongolia.