How does the Council decide areas of co-operation?
The British-Irish Council is mandated to exchange information, discuss, consult and use best endeavours to reach agreement on co-operation on matters of mutual interest within the competence of the relevant Administrations. The first Summit meeting in London in December 1999 agreed an initial list of priority areas of work within the Council and decided that individual administrations would take the lead in advancing particular sectoral areas. Additional areas of work were agreed at subsequent Summit meetings. It remains open to the British-Irish Council to propose and agree new areas of work, within the competence of Member Administrations, to advance co-operation among them.
