The organisation work needed for such an outstanding event as this Congress required a joint effort on the part  of two bodies that decided to sign a co-operation agreement in the terminology area as early as 1990.

Joint efforts have been made since then by HAEE/IVAP and UZEI to co-ordinate the resources needed for linguistic modernisation. Once the process was fully implemented it became possible to solve a large number of shortcomings detected in recent years thanks to a very close co-operation and a large volume of shared work. The final outcome of this effort is the I International Congress on Terminology  taking place in Donostia-San Sebastián.

It is within this context of co-operation and co-ordination that we wished to involve the Academy of the Basque Language as well as Basque Universities to guarantee, firstly, the presence of bodies  already working hard to meet terminological requirements arising from the Basque language at different levels as well as those encountered in a number of university disciplines and, secondly,  that the event will be permeated with authority and credibility. We are fully aware that the modernisation process required for the Basque language must not only limit itself to the Basque Autonomous Community, but also reach deep into the Community of Navarre and the Basque region in France. It is through the presence of the Academy of the Basque Language and Universities that we intend to challenge this reality.

The attendance of experts from other countries and officials representing international institutions devoted to terminology studies is highly relevant for the Congress and the Basque language. On the one hand, this will allow us to obtain knowledge and also apply interesting experiences to our language; on the other, attempts will be made to transfer terminological activities already taking place within the scope of the Basque language towards other cultures and languages and thus reinforce the international nature of the event. Although UZEI is making a somewhat minor contribution, it must be borne in mind that this organisation is currently involved in the European POINTER project to address specific needs arising from minority languages.

Lastly, we would like to thank the speakers, the audience and the organisations that have assisted us in this endeavour as it would have been impossible to hold this event without their kind support. We hope the meeting will turn out to be an enriching experience for you all and that we shall meet again during the II Congress that could take place in the early months of the year 2000. We will, however,  do our best to achieve this goal.

      Josu Iñaki Erkoreka Gervasio             Alberto Agirreazaldegi Gallastegi
            Director of HAEE/IVAP                            Director of UZEI