The co-operation between Egypt and the Working Party of Analytical Chemistry (WPAC) of the Federation of European Chemical Societies (FECS) started rather early in the year 1979 when I had the honor to be nominated by the Egyptian Chemical Society and Cairo University to represent Egypt as an observer in WPAC. As a chairman of the WPAC, Prof. H. Malissa encouraged me to start a real scientific co-operation and we had many meetings together with late Prof. R. Kellner as the secretary of WPAC and Prof. M. Grasserbauer in the TU Vienna, all the discussions were about the transfer of knowledge between north and south and how both sides will benefit from it.

One of the most important results of this sincere and friendly co-operation was the first International Symposium on New Trends in Chemistry, the role of Analytical Chemistry in National Development, which was held in Cairo in January 1984 and supported by WPAC and TU Vienna. The scientific support was very obvious by having 10 professors' members of the WPAC, representing Austria, Belgium, Finland, Germany, Hungary and United Kingdom. It was a very successful broad spectrum Analytical Symposium which aimed to draw the attention of decision makers in Egypt about the importance of Analytical Chemistry in all aspects of life. The recommendations of this Symposium were circulated to all interested and important groups. As a fulfillment of one of the recommendations the Egyptian Society of Analytical Chemistry was founded and registered in 1984. In addition the Egyptian Journal of Analytical Chemistry (EJAC) started. It is abstracted in Analytical and Chemical Abstracts. It is published annually. Volume 25 is known in the final preparation.

                     M. M. Khater