Saint-Petersburg, the home of ICM 2022, is also my beloved home city, the place of captivating beauty and elegant character. The timing of the Congress is perfect! Scheduled at the tail end of the magical season of Saint-Petersburg white nights, it will not only let you experience the very best of modern mathematics, but also see the city in all its cultural, historical and architectural glory. And in its uniqueness, too: for only in Saint-Petersburg do the locals and the visitors alike forget about sleep and gather at the stately embankments of Neva in the middle of the night to watch the bridges being drawn. It is an unforgettable sight, impossible not to fall in love with.

As the President of the IMU Commission for Developing Countries, I appreciate the Organizers’ commitment to support 1000 mathematicians from developing countries and I urge mathematicians worldwide to take the full advantage of this funding opportunity. As a mathematician who now spends a significant amount of time in St Petersburg, I hope that ICM 2022 will bring together mathematicians from every country on Earth in the city of Euler and Chebyshev.

I am working to organize a Satellite of ICM 2022 in my home city of Nizhny Novgorod. It is the vast expanse of the Neva river that makes St Petersburg so stunning. The very different beauty of my home city is similarly underscored by the confluence of the two grand rivers Oka and Volga. Mathematics in Nizhny Novgorod has a strong tradition, which includes a famous school of dynamical systems created by Andronov in the 1930’s. I look forward to welcoming the world’s leading experts in dynamical system to my home city. There are many excellent locations to have an ICM satellite in Rus F2F2 sia and I hope that ICM satellites will lead to new friendships and collaborations between Russian and foreign scientists.

St Petersburg is very proud to host ICM 2022 and the General Assembly of the IMU and we look forward to welcoming the mathematicians of the whole world to our magnificent city. Our modern congress infrastructure will make your meeting rewarding and efficient. And to make the most of our famous white nights after a full day of work, I invite everyone to explore St Petersburg stunning architecture, as well as our museums, performance venues, and other cultural treasures. Our city extends its warm hospitality to people from every corner of the world, regardless of their income, identity, religion, or ideology. I wish you a very enjoyable and productive visit to St. Petersburg!

Major international forums attended by world leaders choose our statе-of-the-art ExpoForum center as the venue for their events. In 2022, we will be welcoming the World Energy Congress, the Euroskills Championship, and many other events, including, of course, the St Petersburg International Economic Forum. We are delighted to be chosen as the venue for ICM 2022! ExpoForum is an ideal place to hold a large international congress: there is ample multifunctional space, modern meeting infrastructure, and effective transportation solutions, including the connection to the city center by the newly constructed Western High-Speed Diameter.

ICM in St Petersburg is a recognition of the great past and the dynamic present of the mathematics in my home city and I am very proud of this. In planning the ICM, however, we want to look to the future of mathematics in Russia and in the world, reflecting the paramount role our science plays in everything we do today. In particular, in our public lectures, exhibitions, and outreach events, we want to emphasize the many deep connections between mathematics, other sciences, the industry and our life in general. Our ICM will reflect all the different facets of modern mathematics.

There is more to ICM than mathematicians talking to other mathematicians ! An ICM is a great chance for all people to discover what is new in mathematics and neighboring fields. I am working on building avenues for such discovery, including organizing a gathering of science journalists and a festival of movies about mathematics and science. Stay up to date on everything with the ICM newsletter!

My colleagues and I, at the International Advisory Committee of ICM 2022, will work to make sure the ICM follows the best practices in every aspect of its organization. Please contact us with your suggestions, ideas, and concerns. It is great that the ICM is coming to the Baltic Shores, let’s together make this ICM a real celebration of mathematics!

While the ICM itself is only 9 days long, I invite all participants to plan for a longer visit, participate in an ICM satellite, and discover Russia’s history and natural beauty. There is so much to discover! With my colleagues, I am planning to organize an ICM satellite meeting on geometric group theory and related topics, and hope to gather all the world experts in one stunning location!

Mathematics and computation is absolutely central to how our world works today. At Yandex, we understand this and are very happy to partner with the ICM organizers on many projects, especially to emphasize the real-world aspects of mathematics at the ICM. It is fantastic that the world brightest mathematical minds are gathering in Russia. On behalf of Yandex, the largest IT company in Europe, welcome!

Russia and St Petersburg are very experienced in organizing large scale international events, as exemplified by the 2018 World Cup. Almost a million soccer fans visited Russia for the World Cup and they all had a wonderful time supporting their teams and discovering Russia for themselves. Like the FanID of the World Cup, the ICM registration will function as a visa, making getting to and around St Petersburg and Russia smooth and convenient. On behalf of the Executive Organizing Committee of ICM 2022, welcome to St Petersburg!

I am the youngest member of the Local Organizing Committee and I would like to encourage the young mathematicians from Russia and the whole world to come to ICM 2022. It will be grand! If you are still learning mathematics, no problem, you can come as an ICM volunteer and contribute to the success of the ICM while being an important part of the world’s greatest math event. If you are already on your way to a research career in mathematics, there will be 1300 grants to support your local expenses in St Petersburg in partnership with your home country organizations.

The year 2022 will be declared the Year of Mathematics in the Russian Federation. My colleagues and I envision it filled with a whole spectrum of outreach events aimed at students, teachers, and the general public of all ages. We hope to spark the love for mathematics in everyone. There will be lots of events large and small, and if you have an idea about an event in your school or home town then keep in mind that your initiative is 99% of the success ! By the way, can you find the Pythagorean theorem on this web page?

Mathematics grows like a tree and the seeds planted in St Petersburg bore fruit over the vast expanse of Russia and many neighboring countries. I want to send a very special welcome to all who consider themselves a part of this great mathematical tradition. Hope to see everybody in St Petersburg and let’s make our reunion an important part of the St Petersburg ICM. I also want to invite our whole mathematical diaspora to take a very active part in the preparation and the activities of the ICM itself, the ICM satellites, and all the various events of the Year of Mathematics that will take place in Russia in 2022. It is important for the tradition to continue.