The newly established Inter-Union Commission on Solar-Terrestrial Physics (IUCSTP) has inquired of selected experts about actions useful in the period of the next solar maximum, which need an organization and coordination on international basis. These inquiries have shown that one of the problems, in which a broad international cooperation might lead to substantial improvement of scientific results, is the coordination of ground-base and space-vehicle observations of the Sun and its active phenomena.

Therefore, in order to help the IUCSTP in its preparatory work, the chairmen of IAU Commissions 10 (Solar Activity) and 44 (Observations from outside the Atmosphere) agreed to hold a joint meeting of these two Commissions during the IAU Assembly in Prague, on ‘Coordination of solar observations made at ground-base Observatories and with space vehicles’. It was anticipated that other IAU members interested in this problem, particularly members of Commissions 12 and 40, would also take part in the discussion.