The near-infrared / red focal instrument of the VLTI, called AMBER will operate between 1 and 2.5 µm in a first phase (2001-2003) with two UTs. This instrument has been designed for three beams to be able to perform images through phase closure techniques. The wavelength coverage will be extended in a second phase down to 0.6 µm at the time the ATs become operational. The magnitude limit of AMBER is expected to reach K=20 when a bright reference star is available and K=14 otherwhise. The main scientific objectives are the investigation at very high angular resolution of disks and jets around young stellar objects and AGN dust tori with a spectral resolution up to 10000.