The mandate of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada is to manage Canada's diplomatic and consular relations and to encourage the country's international trade. This includes:
- ensuring that Canada's foreign policy reflects true Canadian values and advances Canada's national interests;
- strengthening rules-based trading arrangements and expanding free and fair market access at bilateral, regional and global levels; and
- working with a range of partners inside and outside government to achieve increased economic opportunity and enhanced security for Canada and for Canadians at home and abroad.
You can access the entire formal mandate of the department in the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Act (R.S. 1985, c. E-22).
Our Priorities: 2010-2011
The Department's priorities include bringing greater economic opportunity for Canada, building on a comprehensive strategy for relations with the Americas as well as a global strategy for relations with the United States, asserting Canadian leadership in emerging global governance, Afghanistan and transforming the department.
For more information, please visite the page Our priorities.
ECOWAS Security Division Institutional Development Scoping Mission, Abuja, Nigeria.
The UK Government received a request for assistance from ECOWAS, to support the Head of the ECOWAS Security Division in Abuja, Nigeria, in assessing their role with regard to SSR issues and to begin the process to design a strategy to assist the implementation to this new role.
Given the support currently being provided by Canada to the Commission for Policies Affairs, Peace and Security (PAPS) within the ECOWAS Secretariat, both the UK and Canada jointly requested ISSAT to send a team to provide this support.