SINGAPORE – The World Economic Forum (WEF) has informed the Singapore government that it will cancel its special annual meeting for 2021, which had been scheduled to take place in the republic from August 17 to 20.
It is due to the continuing global uncertainties caused by Covid-19, said the Trade and Industry Ministry in response to media queries yesterday.
“The Singapore government fully appreciates the challenges caused by the ongoing pandemic, particularly for a large meeting with a broad span of international participants.
“We will continue to work actively with WEF and other key international organisations to promote collaborations between stakeholders on issues of global concern.”
Separately, WEF said the tragic circumstances unfolding across geographies, an uncertain travel outlook, differing speeds of vaccination roll-outs, and the uncertainty surrounding new Covid-19 variants make it impossible to realise a global meeting with business, government and civil society leaders from all over the world at the scale that had been planned.
The forum said the next annual meeting will take place in the first half of 2022, with the final location and date to be determined based on an assessment of the situation later this summer.
“It was a difficult decision, particularly in view of the great interest of our partners to come together not just virtually, but in person, and to contribute to a more resilient, more inclusive and more sustainable world,” said WEF founder and executive chairman Prof Klaus Schwab on the forum’s website.
“But ultimately, the health and safety of everyone concerned is our highest priority.
“We will continue to engage our increasing number of partners in our numerous work streams addressing key issues on the global agenda through public-private cooperation.” – Bernama, May 18, 2021
