concern to the Financial Commission over the whole 
period. Council and General Assembly are asked to take 
serious measures in order to improve that situation. 
A major factor in ISPRS expenses have been the expenses 
for Highlights (an amount of SFr 196,864 against income 
from advertisement of SFr 30,460). Clearly, the expenses 
for Highlights have been almost as high as for Council 
administration (SFr 201,114). The question must be raised 
whether the Society wants to continue to support High- 
lights with such a big amount. 
7. Status of the Societies Accounts 
The Societies assets have increased by SFr 140,199 (gross) 
/ SFr 123,910 (net) during the 96-99 period. This is mainly 
due to solid investment policy, increase in Membership and 
donations/sponsoring. The current net investment value of 
SFr 525,271 equals about 3.6 times the 1999 income. Given 
the healthy state of finances it does not seem justified to 
raise Membership fees for the next period. 
The Treasurer is to be complemented on adopting an 
active role in managing the Society funds, in collecting 
subscriptions and in helping to increase the membership, 
especially in recruiting new Sustaining Members. It is also 
appreciated that help from professional accountants has 
been sought and, as a result, the format of the yearly 
reports has improved substantially. 
8. Considerations for the Future 
The continuing increase in membership is a good indica- 
tion of the interest that the Society meets in the scientific 
  
and professional communities of Photogrammetry and 
Remote Sensing. With the stronger integration of the Spa- 
tial Information Sciences an even greater potential for 
membership arises. Substantial efforts should be directed 
towards the attraction of societies, institutions and com- 
panies from this field. 
With Council facing new and more tasks in the future an 
increase in costs for Council administration must be fore- 
seen and should be accepted. However, it is most impor- 
tant that related expenses will not only lead to an off-load 
of duties of Council Members, but also to the generation 
of new income and to a more professional and efficient 
Council administration and further advancements in the 
realisation of the Societies mission and goals. 
In pursuing these goals one can envision more activities 
(also on the financial side) in the promotion of research, 
education, training and technology transfer. Concrete 
measures could include 
- direct support of scientific activities (small projects of 
general concern), 
- continuation of the Young Author Awards (possibly 
extending it to Symposia), 
- explicit funding of travel awards for PhD candidates 
and young scientists from developing countries for the 
attendance of summer schools and tutorials, 
- logistic and scientific/technical support of training 
courses at all levels. 
This report of the Financial Commission is submitted to the 
General Assembly for endorsement. 
  
Report on Inter-organisational Relations 
by John C. Trinder, Secretary General 
The Society’s role in promoting international co-operation 
in the photogrammetry, remote sensing and spatial infor- 
mation sciences has continued to expand over the period 
1996-2000. This report will summarise the major develop- 
ments in those activities with international organisations 
with which ISPRS has relations. 
There are three categories of organisations with which 
ISPRS is associated: organisations of the United 
Nations, other related UN organisations and other Soci- 
eties in related sciences and technologies. The most sig- 
nificant activities of these organisations will be sum- 
marised. 
United Nations 
UN - Office for Outer Space Affairs (OOSA) 
OOSA is responsible for the Committee on the Peaceful 
Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS). ISPRS is a Permanent 
Observer Member of COPUOS. Since 1989, ISPRS has 
attended and presented technical reports and statements 
at the annual Science and Technology meetings of COP- 
UOS in February and the COPUOS Full annual meetings in 
June. 
On 25 April 1997 a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) 
between the OOSA and ISPRS was signed by Dr. Jasen- 
  
114—— 
tuliyana, Deputy to the Director-General UN and OOSA Direc- 
tor, and President Fritz of ISPRS. In summary, the terms of the 
MoU commit both parties to: 
- Promote and conduct activities of mutual interest to 
the UN Space Applications Programme (UNSAP) of 
OOSA 
- Jointly aim to sponsor an event annually 
- Jointly co-ordinate schedules, events, topics and/or 
specialist needs in pre-planning related activities 
- Jointly seek financial support and identify specialists 
and lecturers for UN-led events which require pho- 
togrammetric, remote sensing and Geographic Infor- 
mation Systems expertise 
- Have ISPRS incorporate formal opportunities within 
the framework of UNSAP to be included in the quad- 
rennial ISPRS Congress and the relevant Quadrennial 
ISPRS Commission Symposia and Working Group 
activities 
- Request ISPRS to provide scientific and technologi- 
cal expertise through reviews, evaluations and rec- 
ommendations on space-related matters of remote 
sensing 
A major event in the activities of OOSA was the UNI- 
SPACE Ill Conference held in Vienna in July 1999. It was 
the first such event since 1982 and was intended to 
International Archives of Photogrammerty and Remote Sensing. Vol. XXXIII, Part A. Amsterdam 2000.