In an unusually blunt new pamphlet for the Centre for European Reform, the former British diplomat and special envoy takes on several tenets of Brussels conventional wisdom on the Cyprus dispute.

ECONOMIST: European politics

At Monday's meeting in Brussels, the foreign ministers are expected to consider nominating a German diplomat as the EU's special envoy to Afghanistan in a bid to give the bloc a higher profile as reconstruction efforts gather pace.

CNN: EU to debate Afghan future

World powers have hailed the appointment of veteran Algerian diplomat Lakhdar Brahimi as the new UN-Arab League envoy for Syria.

BBC: World powers welcome Lakhdar Brahimi as new UN envoy

However, Mr Fradkov, who most recently served as Russia's envoy to the European Union, is also seen as a skilled diplomat with a strong grounding in trade issues.

BBC: Analysis

In Washington the three officials, America's top diplomat on Asia Kurt Campbell, South Korea's nuclear envoy Lim Sung-nam and Japan's representative to the six-party talks Shinsuke Sugiyama, said they were committed to the denuclearisation deal.

BBC: 'Path open' for North Korea talks, neighbours say

He appointed an envoy to South-West Asia (ie, Afghanistan and Pakistan): Richard Holbrooke, a veteran diplomat.

ECONOMIST: Barack Obama's start