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On behalf of the community of Tunisian geographers, it is my honour and privilege to invite you to take part in the proceedings of the XXXIst Geographical Congress that will be held in Tunis from August 12th to 15th 2008. The 2008 Tunis Congress will be held under the aegis of
His Excellency Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, President of the Republic of Tunisia. It enjoys the support of the Ministry of Higher Education, Scientific Research and Technology, and is backed by various other ministerial departments and academic and research institutions. The Congress will be held in a country rich of a three thousand years old heritage, and enjoying an exceptional geographical diversity. It is a country of openness and dialogue, offering its hospitality to, and providing all world geographers with the necessary means to grant the success of their congress. For this major geographical event, the National Organizing Committee of the 2008 Tunis Congress has planned a scientific agenda meant to further develop the reflection and debates of the past two decades, while highlighting new paradigms and promoting new stances to geographers. «Building together our territories» will be the major theme of the Congress. Three major issues will be discussed: the territory; the operational orientation of geography; and the role of the players. Going beyond the classical divides of the discipline, these issues make of geography a science that allows man to live intelligently with the others and his milieu. Other breaking-news topics themes are also scheduled for debate. The evolution of geographical thought; Cultures and Civilisations for Human Development; the Renaissance of the Mediterranean; the International Year of the Planet Earth, are, inter alia, some of the issues that will be raised, showing the ability of geographers to share their concerns with others. Tunis 2008 will provide an ideal forum for geographers to express and confront their visions on the major issues of our time. The 2008 Tunis Congress will host 36 IGU committees and 4 working groups whose activities will be integrated in the Congress general agenda. It will also offer the possibility of convening meetings for the different IGU regional networks (the Commonwealth network, Latin America network, South-East Asia network, Australia and the Pacific network) or for other nascent networks (Mediterranean, Africa, the Arab world, etc). The 2008 Tunis Congress will thus be a collective undertaking, aiming mainly at building and contributing to the renewal of Geography. The excursion programme will be particularly rich. Owing to the diversity of its landscapes (from the Mediterranean forests to the desert, form the coast hills to the hinterland mountains, from the urban centres to the countryside), and because of the multiplicity of dynamics, constraints and the responses brought by society, the country does indeed offer limitless opportunities. The social programme is no less interesting. Other assets of the country will be made available to you and to those accompanying you, so as to make of the Congress an opportunity to share the charming facets of the life of geographers. Beaches, desert dunes, oases, archaeological sites, festivals, the medinas, etc., are yet other opportunities to extend the Congress into family vacations. Dear colleagues, We are looking forward to welcoming as many of you as possible so that we can build together this major event in the life of the community of world geographers, while enhancing and renewing the century-old tradition constituted by the International Congress of Geography. See you in Tunis 2008. The CNOC Chairman
Adnane Hayder
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