The ninth meeting of CEDEFOP (French acronym for the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training) is summarized in this report. Attending the forum were representatives of the leading vocational training research and development institutions and ministerial departments from the European Community (EC) Member States and from countries of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). Presentations and discussions focused on the response of the vocational training systems to training needs. Erik Winther-Schmidt and Ernst Piehl stressed the need to link the labor market and the training systems. Jurgen Schmehr provided an update on the development of the Skills Monitoring Project. Matti Haavio raised the issue of the involvement of the EFTA countries in the research activities of the EC. Enrique Retuerto de la Torre reviewed some research activities concerned with the links between employment and qualifications. Fernanda Oliveira Reis's presentation focused on her studies on the continuing training policies of enterprises and the training effect of different forms of work organization. Sally Dench of the United Kingdom described the background and approach to the Employers' Manpower and Skill Practices Survey initiated in 1991. Laszlo Alex described the econometric model used in Germany to determine and analyze skill needs. Soren Nielson focused on the recent reforms of the Danish education and vocational training system. Antonio Rueda Seron explained the extensive reform processes that have occurred in Spain. Claudio Tagliaferro described his institute's experience in analyzing and forecasting skill and training needs at a local level in Italy. The centerpiece of the debate on cooperation in the field of vocational training research in the Member States and the role of the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training and the EC was the presentation by Reinhard Czycholl, who discussed the efforts of various official bodies in Germany to solve the problems of fragmentation existing there by setting up a vocational training network that would provide the needed coordination. (YLB)