The Energy Independence Conference on Fusion Energy and Plasma Physics was held in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). This conference was sponsored by the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP). One of the prime purposes of the meeting was to assess and promote the role of developing countries in fusion research. Some one hundred people attended the meeting, with a good representation from the Latin American countries, and participants from Austria, Bangladesh, China, Egypt, India, Israel, Kenya, Malaysia, Poland and Portugal, and with a good selection of specialists from the developed countries.