The FIG 31st General Assembly was held from 15th to 19th June 2008 in Stockholm, Sweden, during FIG Working Week 2008. More than fifty member associations participated in the Working Week, and several new affiliate members were welcomed to the Federation. The general assembly elected new commission chairs and two new vice-presidents, Iain Greenway (United Kingdom) and Teo CheeHai (Malaysia). Both are well known within the Federation and their contributions have always been highly appreciated; expectations for their term of office, 2009-2012, are commensurate. Vice-presidents Paul van der Molen and Ken Allred are vacating their places on the council.

New Publications
FIG Publications are recognised all over the world by professionals, academia, NGOs and organisations such as UN-Habitat, FAO and the Word Bank in developing policies, profession and practise. Forty high-level publications may be downloaded from the FIG website, the latest including:

- Informal Settlements – the Road towards More Sustainable Places. The aim of this report is to explore how surveyors can be better prepared to work with international agencies and national and local government.

- FIG Guidelines on Capacity Assessment in Land Administration.This guide, developed in co-operation with FAO, is offered as a tool for improving exist­ing Land Administration Systems through in-country self-assessment of capacity needs, especially in developing and countries in transition, where financial resources are limited.

- Costa Rica Declaration on Pro-Poor Coastal Zone Management.The coastal zones are fragile and include a range of rights and interests. FIG supports the right of poor coastal communities to thrive and retain ongoing access to coastal resources.

The FIG Profile is the latest FIG brochure explaining the benefits of being a member of the Federation. The role of FIG, commission activities, organisation, oper­ation, financing and administration are all elucidated, and FIG international co-operation highlighted.

Land Administration Domain Model
Following a vote in ISO/TC 211, the Land Administration Domain Model is now under development as an international standard. A first meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark, in May 2008 amended the scope of the standard: it will be developed as a reference model which can be used as a basis for the development of land-administration systems and for data sharing between systems. The standard shall explicitly not override national laws. The new scope will be presented in a ‘Working Draft’ for voting, also at CEN, the European Standardisation organisation. CEN is expected to support this development now that it has been made explicitly clear there can be no impact on existing Land Administration systems. A timetable for development of this ISO 19152 has been agreed.