Services and structure

The central board of the FPS Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation consists of six Directorates-General and six Staff Directorates and Directorates.

Communication (COM) directorate

The Communication (COM) directorate strives to propagate the image of our FPS, and by extension that of Belgium.
  1. Last updated on

It includes the services that speak to the “customers” of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, provide them with information on the FPS' activities or give them access to the information sources available to the FPS.

The Communication directorate collects and disseminates information on all FPS powers. It also assists the other Directorates at the FPS and the missions abroad with their communication tasks.

The directorate conducts internal and external communications. In its external communication, the FPS addresses the public as well as all manner of professional groups, in particular journalists, academics, etc., while through its internal communication, the Department aims to inform staff at headquarters or on missions about the various activities of the FPS.

The directorate has several duties, namely:

  • relations with the press: the directorate maintains and supervises relations with the Belgian and foreign media, receiving, accrediting and supervising the media representatives. It also supervises the visits of foreign public figures to Belgium and the trips of members of the federal government abroad.
  • media monitoring: the directorate informs Belgium and the wider world about this country's foreign policy, through overviews of the Belgian and international press (RSS feeds).
  • the web team: the team manages the FPS' sites and those of the missions abroad.
  • social media: the team is responsible for the strategy and management of the Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Vimeo and Flickr accounts.
  • audiovisual media: the Directorate takes care of the audiovisual media for the FPS in the form of photography, video, infographics and graphic design.
  • internal communication: the directorate centralises and disseminates information at the Department in Brussels and the missions abroad through the internal newsletter.
  • public diplomacy: the directorate develops a policy that promotes the Belgian image in Belgium and abroad.