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two of the most promising ideas will receive our full assistance and support.
3. John Talent, President of the International Palaeontological Association, proporses to organize an International Palaeontological Congress, which could be held every four years, and which could alternate with the Geological Congress. It would be a large international meeting and field trip, requiring partipation and organization by numerous scientists at different institutions. The first IPC could be held in Australia in 2002. IGCP 406 members look forward to this possibility, which was endorsed at our annual meeting in Warsaw.

4. Project funding request
IGCP 406 is now in a mature phase, with strong participation by researchers in many countries, and the several different lines of research beginning to converge on a synthetic understanding of the evolution of Circum-Arctic depositional basins and their fauna and flora. Funds are requested to allow as broad a participation as possible, especially by graduate students, researchers from poorer nations, working group leaders, and national representatives from diverse countries.
Our highest priority will be to provide strong and broadly distributed financial support to members to help them attend and present research results at our final Annual Meeting in Syktyvkar. Our colleagues in Syktyvkar and Ukhta, assisted by co-leader P. Männik, have made extensive and careful preparations for the meeting, abstract volume, field guide book, and field excursions. This will be an outstanding opportunity for our Russian colleagues to share their knowledge and provide access to their sections.
We also hope to provide some (more limited) support to a few members who would be better served by attending the Flagstaff meeting, where they can publicize the activities and results of IGCP projects in general and IGCP 406 in particular.
As has been possible in the past, small amounts of financial support may be provided to help members represent IGCP 406 at other meetings and workshops, although this seems less likely this year because of the existence of two important meetings.
We therefore request funding at the highest level possible (we received in excess of $10,000 combined funding from UNESCO and IUGS in both 1998 and 1999); our financial needs and our opportunities in our final year will be even more significant than they were in the previous two years.
We also ask that we be able to direct the funds to the most appropriate needs based on our best judgement as circumstances may change.

5. N/A

6. Attachments:
Appendix 1: Minutes of the Annual Business Meeting of IGCP 406 held in Jurmala, Latvia
Appendix 2: Plans for the Final Annual Meeting, year 2000, in Syktyvkar, Russia.
A copy of the Jurmala meeting volume (Ichthyolith Issues Special Publication 5) will be sent to IUGS in
Norway and another copy to IGCP in Paris as soon as they are available.