World Economic Forum pushes Singapore meet to August amid COVID-19
Feb 04, 2021
Geneva [Switzerland], February 4 : The World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting, which will take place in Singapore this year instead of traditional Alpine resort Davos, has been postponed until August 17-20 from the end of May, the organizers announced Wednesday.
According to an official release the meeting would now be postponed to August 17-20, citing the challenges related posed by the coronavirus pandemic.
"The Special Annual Meeting 2021 was scheduled for 25-28 May. Although the World Economic Forum and Government of Singapore remain confident of the measures in place to ensure a safe and effective meeting, and local transmission of COVID-19 in Singapore remains at negligible levels, the change to the meeting's timing reflects the international challenges in containing the pandemic," read the official statement.
The WEF further said that current global travel restrictions have made planning difficult for an in-person meeting in the first half of the year.
"Furthermore, differing quarantine and air transport regulations have increased the lead time necessary to ensure that participants globally can make arrangements to join," they added.
Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, said that a global leadership summit needs the "participation of all global stakeholders."
"The Special Annual Meeting in Singapore in August will provide the place for leaders from business, government and civil society to come together to address the steps for global recovery," Schwab added.
In December, it was announced Singapore will host the World Economic Forum's (WEF) annual meeting next year in May, discussing the ongoing global issues. The meeting will be held from May 13 to 16 next year, before returning to Davos, Switzerland, in 2022, The Strait Times reported. The shift in location was due to the challenges by the COVID-19 pandemic.
This is the second time the World Economic Forum meeting will be held outside of Switzerland since it began in 1971, and the first time it will be held in Asia. The 2002 edition was held in New York, to show solidarity with the United States and the people of the city after the September 11 terror attacks the year before.
