The annual international conference on laser physics that took the name International Laser Physics Workshop (LPHYS') has been established in 1991 following the joint initiative of a group of leading laser scientists in the former Soviet Union under the leadership of Professor Alexander M Prokhorov, a renowned Russian laser researcher and a 1964 Nobel Prize laureate in physics. The main idea behind the group's undertaking was to establish an annual forum for the exchange of scientific results achieved in various areas of laser research over the preceding year. Among some anticipated results of such closely held gatherings were setting up and getting underway of many new research projects in many promising directions worldwide in both theoretical and applied areas. Launching of many research groups of common interest across national borders was one of the main original purposes of the Workshop.