International mathematical union

Report 1994 - 1997

by

Pierre Bérard, Secretary and Treasurer

During the period 1994--1997, the Commission on Development and Exchanges has proposed two programs to support Mathematics and mathematicians in the developing countries.
The program « Support to Individual Mathematicians » offered partial travel support to mathematicians who made an extended research visit in an advanced mathematical center which committed itself to supporting the local expenses. This program applied both to mathematicians from developing countries and to mathematicians from advanced countries who visited a mathematical center in a developing country (see lines IL in the following tables).
The program « Support to Conferences » offered partial support for the academic activities of conferences organized in developing countries (see lines CS in the following table).
The CDE has also supported research teams (see lines TM in the tables 1994 and 1995). In 1997, it has initiated a new action aiming at supporting Mathematics in Southern Africa-MUSA project (see below) . Finally, the CDE has set up cooperation schemes with CIMPA/ICPAM (Nice, France) and ICTP (Trieste, Italy) to support workshops (CIMPA) or research visits (ICTP).
As in the past years, the CDE received many applications and had to make a strict selection before awarding funding. As a general rule, the secretary received the applications, summarized them and circulated the summaries to the members of the CDE for evaluation and discussion before decision making.
The programs offered by the CDE were supported by funds coming from IMU, ICSU, UNESCO-ROSTA, UNESCO-ROSTE and by donations from the Société Mathématique de France and from the Mathematical Society of Japan. The CDE also received indirect support from the Institut Fourier UMR 5582, Université Joseph Fourier -- CNRS (Grenoble, France).
The CDE has been deeply involved in the MUSA project in the Southern Africa Region (a description of the project has been published in the Notices of the American Mathematical Society in May 1997, and is described below). This project, introduced by the secretary of CDE some time ago, has been set up thanks to an extensive work by Professor Clemens on behalf of the CDE. A planning meeting was held in Botswana (late December 1997) and it is expected that the MUSA project will evolve very positively in a near future.
The following article was submitted to the Notices by Herbert Clemens of the University of Utah. Clemens is a member of the Commission on Development and Exchange of the International Mathematical

Union and is working with the authors of this article and their European research partners to increase interest in and support for the project MUSA, described below.