BUSINESS

WEF CANCELS SPECIAL ANNUAL MEETING FOR 2021 IN SINGAPORE

17/05/2021 11:05 PM

SINGAPORE, May 17 -- The World Economic Forum (WEF) has informed the Singapore government that it will be cancelling its special annual meeting for 2021, which was scheduled to take place in the republic from Aug 17 to Aug 20.

It is due to the continuing global uncertainties caused by COVID-19, said the republic's Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) in response to media queries today.

"The Singapore government fully appreciates the challenges caused by the ongoing global pandemic, particularly for a large meeting with a broad span of international participants.

"We will continue to work actively with the World Economic Forum and other key international organisations to promote collaborations between stakeholders on issues of global concern," said the ministry.

Separately, WEF said the tragic circumstances unfolding across geographies, an uncertain travel outlook, differing speeds of vaccination rollout and the uncertainty around new variants combine to make it impossible to realise a global meeting with business, government and civil society leaders from all over the world at the scale which was planned.

The forum noted that the next annual meeting will instead take place in the first half of 2022 with the final location and date will 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 founder and executive chairman of the forum Professor Klaus Schwab, in its website.

“But ultimately the health and safety of everyone concerned is our highest priority.”

"We will continue to engage our increasing number of partners into our numerous work streams addressing the key issues on the global agenda through public private cooperation," said Schwab.

-- BERNAMA


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