we want to welcome you to the 47th World Congress of Surgery of the International Society of Surgery (ISS) which will take place August 13-17 in Basel, Switzerland. Basel is a lovely city, commonly considered the cultural center of Switzerland. The city is situated at the border with Germany and France, therefore very easily reachable from any part of the world through the Zurich international Airport which is connected by train to the city. Basel has a modern and efficient convention center which has already hosted many important meetings. After the challenges of the 2011 meeting in Yokohama (Fukushima nuclear disaster) and of the 2015 meeting in Bangkok (terrorism), we do expect a safe 2017 meeting, considering the strong and stable economic and political situation in Switzerland. In addition to the 6 Collective Member Societies (ASAP, BSI, IAES, IASMEN, IATSIC, ISDS) we envision a robust participation of European Surgical Associations and a state of the art scientific program.