Request for Support for Surveyors
The Surveyors' Institute of Sri Lanka has requested support from international surveyors' societies for survey professionals in Sri Lanka. Several members of the association lost all their belongings as a result of the Tsunami, and even their survey equipment got washed away. The institute is asking support for at least ten surveyors, in order to allow them to recommence professional practice. Please contact the institute by email at surveyors@eureka.lk to find out how best to help.

FIG Foundation Grants 2005
The Board of Directors of the FIG Foundation at its meeting in Cairo during the FIG Working Week 2005 decided on the allocation of FIG Grants for the current year. About € 7,000 was awarded to seven applicants from six countries. The total number of applications was fourteen.

GEOFORUM’2005 in Ukraine
The Ukrainian Society of Geo-desy and Cartography held the 10th International Scientific Conference ‘Modern Progress of Geodetic Sciences and Industry’, also known as GEOFORUM’2005, in Lviv-Yavoriv, Ukraine from 7th to 9th April 2005. The conference was also a celebration of the 60th Anniversary of the Institute of Geodesy of the National University ‘Lviv Polytechnic’ and the 10th Anniversary of the Ukrainian Society of Geodesy and Cartography. Traditionally this international conference is organised in conjunction with the National Day of Geodesy and Geology held on the first Sunday of April each year. The conference took place at the Polygon military camp outside Lviv, and 170 geodesists and surveyors attended. For the first time, FIG was invited to attend the conference. The purpose of this visit was also to discuss co-operation between FIG and the Ukrainian Society of Geodesy and Cartography following reorganisation of the society some years ago. The society celebrates another tenth anniversary this year; in 1994 it became a member of FIG.

4th FIG Regional Conference for Latin America and the Caribbean
The focus of the 4th FIG Regional Conference to be held in Havana, Cuba from 26th to 29th September 2005 will be on capacity building and its role in promoting sustainable development. This includes sustainability in promoting social and technological development and how these can be achieved by surveying and disciplines related to surveying, topography and geoinformatics. Sub-themes of the conference will include history and preservation of hydrographic and geodetic heritage. Development of physical and virtual infrastructure, quality standards, future challenges and opportunities for project management, legal and social aspects of welfare and security of life, and development of financing concepts, transfer of technology and professional skills are other topics to be covered. These in-
clude both technological disciplines of the surveying profession, land-use and land-management policies, as well as development of measurement technologies and geoinformatics.
Other targets of this conference are to create debate and allow exchange of ideas about the state of the art and use of advanced technologies that may develop the surveying profession. Promoting co-operation on technology within and between the different disciplines of the surveying profession also belongs to the aims of this, the first FIG regional conference to be held in the region. As such, we hope that the conference will build bridges between professionals in Latin America and the Caribbean and at international level and further create understanding on needs and developments within the surveying and geoinformatics community worldwide.

5th FIG Regional Conference for Africa
The focus of the 5th FIG Regional Conference to be held in Accra, Ghana from 8th to 11th March 2006 will be on land administration and good governance as conditions for sustainable development. Topics will also be discussed through the technical tools that modern surveying technology can offer in promoting these main goals. Sub-themes of the conference include topics covering the ground of all ten FIG technical commissions, as well as the three divisions of the Ghana Institution of Surveyors (GhIS): general practice, land surveying and quantity surveying. The objective of the conference is to address effective utilisation of modern technologies in the promotion of good land administration strategies in furtherance of appropriate governance practices to bring about integrated economic, environmental and sustainable development. The conference is open to participants from all over the world. However, the main focus is on Africa, and especially West Africa. To help participation from the West African countries the conference languages will be English and French. All previous FIG regional conferences have welcomed participants from thirty to fifty countries and all continents.

Markku Villikka, FIG Office, Lindevangs Alle 4, 2000 Frederiksberg, Denmark, e-mail: markku.villikka@fig.net, Tel. + 45 38 86 10 81, Mobile phone: + 45 23 43 89 10, Fax +45 38 86 02 52