The ninth session of the Council of the Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration (ICEM) met in Geneva, November 13–19, 1958. At the opening meeting of the Council the government of Panama was welcomed as the 28th member of ICEM. On November 14, the Council approved two pilot projects for developing services to assist migrants and the governments of emigration and immigration countries. One was the establishment of an international vocational training center at Cattolica vocational training center at Cattolica in Italy to train workers for emigration to overseas immigration countries, as well as for intra-European emigration. The second project was the organization of a training course for immigration and placement officers to be set up by migration officials of the Canadian government; the task of this course was to give theoretical and practical training to officials of various immigration countries to fit them for selection, counselling, and placement of immigrants. At the same meeting, the Council decided to make fresh appeals for further financial contributions from its member governments to pay for transport of European refugees from the Far East to countries of asylum.