Between 6-7 December 2002, the OSCE Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe held its 10th Ministerial Council meeting in Porto. From EU member states that are also participants in the OSCE, only three Foreign Ministers attended: one was the outgoing Portugese Chairman in Office, Minister Martins da Cruz, and the other the incoming Dutch Chairman in Office, Minister De Hoop Scheffer. Likewise, from across the Atlantic, neither the US, nor Canada were represented at Foreign Ministers’ level. This was also the case with the countries from Central Asia, save Tadjikistan.