Joining nations 1947-1990

57

INTERNATIONAL CONFERE 1 CES

parts of the world, he brought to his office a profound knowledge of international industry and wide experience as a negotiator. The change in orientation of the IIW's working methods which started at the Trondheim Assembly was confirmed in 1984 in Boston. An international congress on welding research, organised jointly by the US delegation and Provisional Commission VII Welding Research Strategy and Collaboration occupied two days before the start of the Assembly and attracted some 230 participants. Among the papers presented were surveys of the work of the Commissions of the IIW with special reference to that of Provisional Commission VII. The two opening days of the Assembly proper were devoted to a further international conference on the welding of tubular structures, the proceedings of which were published by Pergamon Press, thus following the model of the conference on underwater welding the previous year. Although financial considerations were one of the motives for the introduction of the international conferences, it was apparent at Boston that they did not provide a panacea, for another crisis was seen to be looming. There was a small deficit in 1983 , the income from enrolment fees in 1984 was less than predicted and increasingly large sums of money were owing in respect of the subscriptions of some member countries. In the circumstances, the Governing Council agreed that the Executive Council should be authorised, if necessary, to call for a supplementary subscription in 1985 equivalent to 20% of the normal subscription, itself incorporating an increased charge to compensate for the worldwide decline in steel.consumption. Concern was expressed that subscriptions were linked to a declining index and the Executive Council was asked to examine the possibility of using another factor or factors to evaluate subscriptions. Financial worries did not however preclude more positive devel– opments. The experience gained by the Provisional Commission VII led it to propose its conversion into a Study Group while an ad hoe group recommended the establishment of a Select Committee on Microjoining. Arising out of an initiative of an Indian Vice-President, Mr Arumugham, in 1981, it was reported that the Executive Council had formed a Working Group 'Liaisons with developing countries and non-member countries' and that, via the Union of International Technical Associations (UITA), contact had been established with UNIDO (United Nations Industrial Development Organisation), the intention being to assist this body with its programmes, in particular for the training of engineers and the exchange of information. These