The General Secretariat is responsible for coordinating the services of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the diplomatic and consular missions. Its role, in close coordination with the Department's 8 Directorates, is to ensure the foreign policy's coherence and the proper functioning of diplomatic and consular missions.
The General Secretariat also ensures communication between the ministry and the Grand Ducal Palace, the Chamber of deputies, other ministerial Departments, the Government Council and the public authorities.
The General Secretariat's responsibilities also include chairing and providing Secretariat and accounting services for the Comité de coordination pour l'installation d'institutions et d'organismes européens.
Within the general secretariat, the legal service coordinates the management of legal files and questions for which the Ministry has a competence, in particular matters of public international law.
Related to the legal service, the treaties service is primarily responsible for the procedure whereby Luxembourg ratifies international treaties in close collaboration with the ministerial departments and public authorities capable of providing the necessary information in order to set in motion and conduct the Parliamentary approval procedure for an international act.
In terms of communication, the General Secretariat ensures the consistent dissemination of institutional and ministerial information to the general public through various communication channels. To ensure structured communication, the General Secretariat has set up a cellule d'information et de communication (information and communication cell) (ICC) made up of the Deputy Secretary General, the general coordinator of Luxembourg's image, the minister's press secretary as well as further agents responsible for external communication.
The General Secretariat also manages the IT tool and website, the archives and correspondence, and the Ministry's diplomatic and consular missions’ security.