About the PGI      History of the PGI      Mandate of the Council      Sessions and Bureau meetings      Working documents  About the PGI The work of the General Information Programme is guided by the Intergovernmental Council for the General Information Programme whose members are elected by UNESCO's General Conference.      History the PGI The Intergovernmental Council for the General Information Programme was established in 1977 based on Resolution 5.1 adopted by the Nineteenth Session of UNESCO's General Conference, held in 1976 in Nairobi. By the same resolution, the General Information Programme was created bringing together two series of activities so far separately conducted by UNESCO: the UNISIST Intergovernmental Programme dealing with scientific and technical information, on the one hand, and NATIS, UNESCO's concept of integrated national information concerned with documentation, libraries and archives, on the other hand.       The Mandate of the Council The Intergovernmental Council for PGI is the authority which is responsible for ensuring the continuity of past activities of UNESCO in the field of information and the future development of the General Information Programme in the interest of Education, Science, Culture and Communication. In particular, the Council, composed of thirty-six Member States elected by the General Conference at its ordinary sessions, is responsible for: guiding the conception and planning of the General Information Programme of UNESCO, in particular by putting forward recommendations on the Medium-Term Plan and its revision and on the content of future programmes and budgets to be submitted to the General Conference; studying proposals concerning developments and modifications of the Programme; recommending priorities among the various activities or groups of activities constituting that Programme; reviewing the results achieved and defining the basic areas requiring international co-operation; encouraging and assisting Members States to participate in the General Information Programme of UNESCO and to co-ordinate their activities to that end; reviewing the other information activities of UNESCO and making recommendations to the Director-General for a better co-ordination of the said activities; seeking voluntary contributions, either financial or in kind, to supplement the resources available under the regular budget for the implementation of the General Information Programme. So far, the Council held 11 sessions (First Session in 1977, Eleventh Session in 1996); 25 meetings of its Bureau were organized      Council Sessions and Bureau meetings Second joint meeting of the Bureaux of the Intergovernmental Council for PGI and the Intergovernmental Committee for IIP  (24-25 June 1999) Twenty-third Meeting of the Bureau of the Council for PGI (10-11 June 1996) Eleventh Session of the Council (2-3 December 1996) Twenty-fourth Meeting of the Bureau of the Council for PGI (26-27 June 1997)/ Vingt-quatrième Session du Bureau du Conseil Intergouvernemental du programme général d'information Twenty-fifth Meeting of the Bureau of the Council for PGI (22-23 June 1998) Vingt-cinquième Session du Bureau du Conseil Intergouvernemental du Programme général d'information (22-23 juin 1998) Twelfth Session of the Council (7-8 December 1998) Douzième Session du Conseil (7-8 Décembre 1998) Joint Session of the Intergovernmental Council for PGI and the Intergovernmental Committee for the Intergovernmental Informatics Programme (9 December 1998) Session conjointe du Conseil Intergouvernemental du PGI et du Comité Intergouvernemental du Programme Intergouvernemental d'Informatique (9 Décembre 1998)