Welcome to Vienna !

As City Councillor responsible for integration and diversity affairs, it gives me special pleasure that Vienna is hosting this year's International Metropolis Conference. For Vienna, the overall congress theme "Gaining from Migration" has attained a particular meaning. This city firmly believes that, by dealing with migration and integration challenges in an open-minded and forward-looking way, the receiving society will gain as much as the newly-arrived citizens. It is the responsibility of a city as diverse as Vienna to embrace policies that build on the recognition of immigration and a population of various origins as a matter of fact, and indeed normalcy, in the life of a modern, prospering city.

Therefore I warmly welcome the opportunities for dialogue and mutual learning between the realms of politics, research and civil society that are made possible by the International Metropolis Project. I am confident that this conference, with a timely focus on some of the most topical developments and challenges, will provide an excellent occasion to engage in highly relevant and much-needed policy debates.

I would like to invite you not only to a week of intense discussions and exchange of knowledge and experiences. Enjoy, for a few days, Vienna's rich cultural heritage of a past marked by influences from all over Europe, and find out for yourselves about its present-day vibrancy, its openness and the diversity of its people.

Renate Brauner

Executive City Councillor for Integration, Women's Issues, Consumer Protection and Personnel