5.2 Interdepartmental Meetings Drafters are responsible for ensuring that other affected departments and agencies are adequately consulted in advance about upcoming proposals and that coordination across portfolios is pursued. These consultations ensure that crosscutting issues are recognized and properly addressed in proposals and that other Ministers are prepared for Cabinet discussion. To this end, drafters should also share an early version of the Cabinet paper with other departments and agencies. In addition, an interdepartmental meeting must beheld after the central agencies meeting and central agency comments have been addressed. Central agency analysts should be invited to participate in the interdepartmental meeting. For presentations, interdepartmental meetingsare required at least three weeks prior to the scheduled Cabinet committee meeting date. These interdepartmental consultations provide an opportunity for drafters to receive expert advice from their colleagues and for other departments and agencies to obtain additional information with which to brief their Ministers. Interdepartmental meetings are also a forum for addressing any concerns raised by other departments and agencies. When departments directly involved in a proposal differ on a matter, the dispute should not be referred to Cabinet or a Cabinet committee until all other means of resolving the issue have been exhausted. The Clerkâs meetings with Deputy Ministers also provide an opportunity to review high-priority policy issues in advance of their submission for Cabinet consideration.