The international conference series on Very Large Data Bases (VLDB) was launched in 1975 in Framingham MA, about 20 miles from Boston. The conference was a huge success for its time, attracting almost 100 papers and more than 150 participants. We have come a long way since then! VLDB conferences attract today hundreds of submissions and participants. Thanks to the efforts of programme committees, authors, and the VLDB Endowment over the years, VLDB conferences constitute today a prestigious

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... ntific forum for the presentation and exchange of research results and practical experiences among members of the international Databases community. VLDB conference regulars are familiar with Canada. This is the third time the conference is visiting, after Montreal (1980) and Vancouver (1992.) In all three occasions, the Canadian Databases community served as backbone for the organizing and the programme committees. At the same time, as with other years, the committees that put together this conference were international, with participation from all regions of the globe. We are grateful to all members of these committees for their time and efforts. Special thanks to Tamer Özsu, the general programme chair of this year's conference; also Kyu-Young Whang, who served as the VLDB Endowment liaison. Their spirit of cooperation throughout was invaluable. Of course, the technical programme is not the only attraction of this year's conference. The conference hotel is located in the core downtown area of Toronto, within walking distance of museums, parks, shopping areas and tourist attractions such as the CN tower, the Harbourfront or Lake Ontario. Toronto has been called the most multicultural city in the world and while here, you will have the opportunity to visit neighborhoods that have the distinctive ethnic flavour of parts of the Far East and Europe. More than that, Toronto is a well-run, safe city that visitors enjoy visiting and revisiting. Welcome to VLDB'04 and Toronto. We hope that you enjoy both the technical programme and the city!!