We're driven by our strategic international goals and objectives. They reflect today's world and they're both challenging and significant.

The FCO Board of Management is responsible for delivering these goals and our Directors General are responsible for making progress towards individual targets.

In turn, our goals determine objectives and business plans throughout the organisation in the UK and overseas. The FCO’s settlement under the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review will determine the resource levels that the FCO is able to bring to bear on the longer-term delivery of these priorities.

In 2006-07, the FCO played a leading role in international peace-building efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, led UK work to secure unanimous UN Resolutions to curb Iran’s nuclear programme, and participated actively in diplomacy to promote peace between Israel and Palestine, and a durable ceasefire and stronger international military presence in Darfur. The FCO cooperated closely with other Government Departments to deliver internationally many Government policies including climate security, migration and counter-terrorism.

Over the course of 2006/07, some of our departmental achievements included:

• the 'Know Before You Go' Campaign won: the gold award for Best Consumer Promotion in the Chartered Institute of Marketing: Travel Industry Group (CIMTIG) awards and the bronze award in the Public Service Announcements category in the International Advertising Awards at the New York Film Festival.
• UKVisas' guidance for staff won Plain English Campaign’s Inside Write Award for accessible and clear internal documentation.
• our Consular Communications Team won the Communications Award, while the Africa Directorate leadership team and Carol Doughty, director of Visa Services in New Delhi, were runners up in the Leadership award at the Whitehall and Westminster World Civil Service Awards 2006.
• the FCO press office was awarded Press Office of the Year 2006 at the Foreign Press Awards in recognition of their work in London and across the world to help and support the foreign media.
• UKVisas' office in New York was awarded a Charter Mark, a national standard for customer service in public sector organisations.
• our Security Management Directorate and Counter-Proliferation Department's Export Licensing Team (together with their DTI colleagues) were awarded ’highly commended’ markings for their Civil Service Awards 2006 nominations.

Our latest Autumn performance report has the full details of how we have performed against our Public Service Agreement (PSA) targets.