Despite the international nature of its position and role, ICMI has from time to time lent its name to a variety of regional conferences on mathematics education, primarily in less affluent parts of the world. A number of so-called ICMI Regional Conferences have thus been held over the years. On certain conditions (presented in the 1992-1996 ICMI Report of Activities), organizers may apply for the ICMI sponsorship of their conference. Normally such a sponsorship is of a moral rather than of a financial nature. To the extent ICMI provides financial sponsorship as well (which can only happen with conferences held in non-affluent countries), the funding is merely symbolical.
There is currently one ICMI Regional Conference in preparation:
Espace Mathématique Francophone 2003
Tozeur (Tunisia), December 19-22, 2003.
The conference is in sequel to the EM 2000 (Espace Mathématique 2000) conference organized in Grenoble, France, in July 2000, by the French Sub-Commission of ICMI as a celebration of the World Mathematical Year 2000. (A report on the Grenoble conference can be found in the ICMI Bulletin No. 49 (December 2000).