The first International Congress of Actuaries that has been held since the profession of Actuary has been generally recognised, was opened on 2 September 1895, at the Palais des Académies, at Brussels, under the patronage of the Belgian Government, by the Belgian Finance Minister, M. de Smet de Naeyer, who had previously acted as honorary president of the organizing committee. This organizing committee had skilfully performed the laborious duty of collecting the materials and settling the procedure which so largely contributed to the success which attended the meetings of the Congress.