The two major aims attained were:

• Publication of the "Guidelines for Research in Partnership with Developing Countries: 11 Principles", presently available in English, French, German and Spanish - with a Portuguese translation to follow in 1999; and
• Reorganisation of the KFPE and its forthcoming transformation into a regular CASS (Conference of the Swiss Scientific Academies) commission (with a mandate unlimited in time).

Guidelines
KFPE arranged a press conference in October 1998 to introduce the Guidelines to the public, with presentations by the Secretary of State, Charles Kleiber of the Swiss Science Agency, Ambassador Walter Fust of the Swiss Agency for Development and Co-operation (SDC), and Dr. Hans Peter Hertig, Secretary-General of the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF). Eleven Swiss newspapers and several radio stations reported on the conference.
By the end of the year some 1300 English, 1000 German and 750 French copies had been distributed all over the world, with additional orders still coming in. Members of several parliamentary commissions were given copies as well.

KFPE homepage: http://www.kfpe.unibe.ch
Efforts were undertaken by the secretariat to make the KFPE homepage even more attractive. With reference to the figures obtained for 1997, two areas in particular were rendered more informative: research partnerships with Swiss participation and Swiss institutions in research and/or development cooperation. In addition, downloading of most longer documents (Strategy, Guidelines, etc.) became much easier to handle. Due to advertising of the homepage, in combination with distribution of the Guidelines, its usage increased tenfold over the previous year.

North/South Conference in Berne
With the title "NGO's, the ‘belt-drives’ linking end-users and researchers", KFPE organised a Workshop during the ‘North/South Conference for Sustainable Development' (organised by the Swiss Coalition of Development Organisations) . On the same occasion KFPE, together with the programme management of the Swiss Priority Programme Environment, held a two-day public market where the two organisations presented the idea of research partnerships with developing countries, illustrated by examples.

CINFO-FORUM
For the first time, KFPE was present at the CINFO FORUM. This event takes place every two years and is addressed to people interested in development co-operation and/or humanitarian aid. With around 750 participants, the 1998 Forum was very well attended; KFPE took good advantage of the opportunity to approach new segments of the public.

Consultancies (e.g.)

• Commission pour le Centre suisse de recherches scientifiques en Côte d'Ivoire (Swiss Research Centre in Côte d'Ivoire)
• Comité scientifique de l’institut universitaire d’études du développement (IUED)
• Foundation Board Swisscontact, Swiss Foundation for technical Cooperation
• National Node' for the EIARD-InfoSys (European Initiative for Agricultural Research for Development)

Meetings
In his capacity as a consultant to the Swiss Priority Programme Environment (module Development and Environment), the chairman attended the International Conference on "Research, Planning and Conflict Resolution for Sustainable Use of Natural Resources" in Kenya.

Visit
The chairman also visited the Health Research and Development Centre in Ifakara (Tanzania), a Swiss-Tanzanian institution, the forerunner of which The Swiss Tropical Institute founded some 40 years ago.

Postscript
As the outgoing Chairman of KFPE, Thierry A. Freyvogel expressed his deep appreciation for all the support and encouragement he was offered by officials, friends and colleagues from all over the world throughout the pioneering phase of KFPE. He also expressed his satisfaction at the decision of CASS, mentioned above, to maintain KFPE as one of its regular commissions, and his trust in the willingness of the international scientific community to collaborate in partnership for the benefit of global sustainable development.