The Basque Government Council, at a session on 15th March 2005, approved the "Basque Autonomous Community Strategy for Foreign Action", the purpose of which is to "define the objectives and major lines of Basque Government Foreign Action, adapting to these the structures and resources necessary to increase the political impact of the Basque Country in the European Union and in other international spheres, particularly on the American continent". Similarly, this initiative advocated by the dynamic of globalisation and/or international processes, aims to rapidly and flexibly respond to international circumstances by taking proactive, coordinated action.

The document constitutes an exercise of reflection by the Basque Government on the subject and integrally encompasses all foreign action taken from any Government areas by providing them with a general framework of action.

Thus, on the one hand, the "Basque Autonomous Community Strategy of Foreign Action" tackles foreign policies such as Basque collectivities abroad, cooperation in development and relations with the UN, and, on the other, the international projection of departmental sectorial policies, specifically: economic-industrial promotion, culture, the environment and sustainable development, and the Information Society.

This strategy aims to achieve five basic objectives which can in turn be divided into strategic and instrumental objectives.

Among the strategic objectives sought are direct participation by Euskadi in European institutions and organs and, in general, at international level, in all subjects falling under their competence or of specific interest; the foreign positioning of Euskadi as an active subject, both in Europe and internationally; the promoting of foreign action, fostering relations and the exchange of experiences with international, state or regional institutions potentially sharing common interests with Euskadi, and the promoting of action abroad by the Basque Government as a whole and other institutions with respect to matters falling under their competence or interest.

The Basque Autonomous Community Strategy of Foreign Action moreover has the instrumental objective of planning Basque Government foreign action in order to prevent having to take action as needs emerge, and of coordinating foreign action from the inter-departmental point of view in order to make the most of the synergy of international and community action (political, economic, cultural, academic, scientific, etc.) now and in the future. This coordination similarly includes the other institutions in the Basque Autonomous Community with the purpose of intensifying co-responsibility between the policies established by the Basque Government and foreign action carried out by the other Basque institutions, economic and social agents.

This strategic framework must include a general programme of foreign action comprising a series of actions contributing to achieving the five objectives stated above. These actions will similarly fall within one of the following courses or areas of action constituting the spinal column of the Strategy:

a) The European Union
b) Inter-regional and cross-border cooperation
c) Basque collectivities abroad
d) Foreign presence in the different sectors
e) Basque Delegations abroad
f) Multilateral organisations

The "Basque Autonomous Community Strategy of Foreign Action", governed by the General Secretariat for Foreign Action, was jointly drawn up, in addition to by all of the departments belonging to the Basque Administration, by the different economic and social institutions in the three provinces having activities of greater foreign projection. The General Secretariat for Foreign Action is responsible for promoting, implementing and appraising the lines of action and actions contained in the "Basque Autonomous Community Strategy of Foreign Action".