The World Economic Forum has cancelled its Special Annual Meeting scheduled to take place in August 17 - 20, amid growing number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in recent days in Singapore and also across the region.
“Regretfully, 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,” says the WEF in a statement.
“This is despite the excellent support provided by the Government of Singapore,” WEF adds.
The next Annual Meeting will instead take place in the first half of 2022. Final location and date will be determined based on an assessment of the situation later this summer.
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“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,” says Professor Klaus Schwab, WEF’s founder and executive chairman.
“But ultimately the health and safety of everyone concerned is our highest priority,” he adds.
In response, Singapore's Ministry of Trade and Industry says Singapore's 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 WEF and other key international organisations to promote collaborations between stakeholders on issues of global concern," MTI adds.
