During the past months ICSSPE and many of our organisations have actively been involved in activities related to the 2005 International Year of Sport and Physical Education (IYSPE). I would like to thank all of you who have made a contribution to this special year by starting new initiatives, for example in the area of sport and development, and by organising events, such as conferences and seminars, in order to create greater awareness about the role of sport and physical education for society and for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). Let me just highlight some of these initiatives in which we were involved, always in close co-operation with Mr. Adolf Ogi, the Special Adviser for sport for development and peace.

A unique conference was hosted on October 2005 by Kennesaw State University under the title “2005 International Summit Effecting Social Change Through Women’s Leadership in Sport”. The participants from all around the world congratulated Kennesaw State University not only for providing an international forum for exchange of research findings and experiences with regard to women, sport and leadership, but they were impressed by a particular commitment to establish a “Center for International Women’s Leadership and Sport Development”.

Another important event was organised at the end of October 2005 by the Royal Thai Government focussing on “Sport and Education”. This led to the “Bangkok Agenda for Action on Sport and Education”.

The 2^nd World Summit on Physical Education was also successfully held in Magglingen, Switzerland, in early December 2005, with more than 150 decision-makers and researchers from science, politics, sports and education representing nearly 40 countries and making it truly an international forum for exchange and debate evaluating the developments since the 1st World Summit held in 1999 in Berlin.

This was followed by the Closing Conference of the International Year of Sport and Physical Education, also in Magglingen, on “Sport and Development”. All participants also received the proceedings of the Sport & Development Conference (on CD-ROM) which ICSSPE had organised in February 2005 in Bad Boll, Germany.

And I would like to highlight another important initiative of ICSSPE in partnership with the Federal Ministry of the Interior in Germany: A hands-on-seminar on “Rehabilitation through Adapted Physical Activity and Sport for Children and Youth Affected by the Tsunami in Southeast Asia" was organised in Bangkok, Thailand at the end of October 2005.
Many experts with very diverse professional backgrounds met and identified ways of assisting our colleagues in the Tsunami affected regions of Southeast Asia with their expertise and they reported about their particular experiences. Otto Bock HealthCare made an important contribution to this event and will continue co-operating with ICSSPE.

Finally I would like to thank all of you, members and partners of ICSSPE, for your great contribution during 2005. May 2006 bring continued success in all your good work!

Prof. Dr. Gudrun Doll-Tepper
President, ICSSPE