Under the provisions of the Public Service Management Act 1997, PSMA, the Secretary General of the Department of Foreign Affairs is required, every three years, to submit for ministerial approval a strategy statement outlining a programme of implementation for Ireland's foreign policy objectives for the following three years. The current strategy statement – for 2003 to 2005 – sets out the Department's high-level policy goals and the detailed strategies and objectives to be pursued in order to achieve them. The strategy statement also contains detailed performance indicators which will facilitate the preparation and assessment of progress reports which will, from now on, be submitted to the Minister at six-monthly intervals. The content of the statement, which is in the process of being printed, was agreed by me with the Taoiseach and copies of the text have been placed in the Oireachtas Library and on the Department's website – www.irlgov.ie/iveagh