Thank you for joining us in this final planning session this morning. It will be devoted to sharing the perspectives and recommendations which have emerged from each of the working groups and in the latter part of the session to concluding remarks by President Hoxter.
As has been mentioned earlier in this consultation, working groups are integral mechanisms by which the goals of a Round Table or a Consultation are met. They represent the contexts in which all other aspects of the Consultation can be used as background for discussions of a specific topic of interest to the working group members. They also provide a forum in which the individual member's papers and other contributions to the specific topic can be viewed in terms of the national or institutional assumptions upon which they are based and these assumptions, in turn, can be tested across national boundaries as their fit with the the cultural traditions, policies, resources, economics development of other societies is examined. Finally, the working groups represent an opportunity for personal friendships and group support to coalesce. In most cases, by the end of a Consultation, such results are apparent in the separation anxiety which occurs and in the efforts of group members to insure that some form of continuing contact will ensue with other members in the future.
These outcomes of the working groups are apparent in the several group reports which I have been privileged to read. To the degree that such outcomes have evolved, we must recognize the insights and planning of the Preparatory Committee, of President Hoxter and Dr. Hope and their colleages -Peggy Jay, Sigune Hartmann, Eva Maria Serban-Gotzler, the members of each working group and, perhaps, most significantly the working group consultants who have tried to facilitate the interaction and the task achievement of each group. This morning's reporting session will be in two parts. I will conduct the first segment and my co-coordinator, Professor O'Doherty will chair the second segment. In each of these instances, the consultants for each of the working groups