Members of the International Air Cadet Exchange are being welcomed by members of 12 Edmonton Royal Canadian Air Cadet Squadron who are staff at Cold Lake Air Cadet Summer Training Center to 4 Wing Cold Lake. The International Air Cadet Exchange sees cadets from Australia, Belgium, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Netherlands, New Zealand, South Korea, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, and the USA visit Canada. Canadian Air Cadets will travel to countries from around the world On 11th April 1946, representatives of the UK Air Training Corps (ATC) visited Montreal to discuss matters of mutual interest with the Air Cadet League of Canada (ACLC). At this meeting, the ATC welcomed a proposal made by the ACLC for an Air Cadet exchange plan and it was agreed to submit an official proposal on both sides of the Atlantic. The next phase in the development of the scheme began when Air Cadet League representatives met RAF and ATC colleagues in London to discuss exchange plans for 1947. The ACLC urged the approval of an exchange of 46 cadets from each country in the summer of 1947. The UK Secretary of State for Air supported the proposal. As a result of the London Conference, the first exchange of 46 cadets and two escort officers was carried out between Canada and the UK and was the foundation for all future developments. With a view to extending the exchange plan to include the United States, the Air Cadet League contacted the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) National Commander in late 1947. The CAP Commander and his staff attended the ACLC Annual Meeting in February 1948 and plans were initiated for the first exchange of Air Cadets between Canada and the CAP, which was completed during the following summer months. Later that year, CAP Headquarters asked to exchange cadets directly with the ATC. The ACLC successfully negotiated the CAP-ATC exchange at a second conference in London and reported this information by trans-Atlantic telephone to the CAP Headquarters in Washington, DC. Following contacts made by Canada with the Royal Swedish Air Force, the first Swedish exchange cadet visited Canada in 1950. The Air Cadet League made similar contacts with the Air Forces and Flying Club organizations in Norway, Netherlands and Denmark and cadets from these countries were also invited to visit Canada. This set the stage for a reciprocal exchange of two cadets with each of the four continental countries mentioned, which commenced in 1952. At the same time, the United States launched an expansion of its own exchange program that at one point involved 19 countries including a few in South America. By the mid-1950s, it was apparent that the need existed for an international organization to coordinate and administer the overall exchange effort. This led to the establishment of the International Air Cadet Exchange Association.