World Economic Forum To Be Held In Singapore In May

"After careful consideration, and in light of the current situation with regards to COVID-19 cases, it was decided that Singapore was best placed to hold the meeting," organisers said.

Reuters

Dec 7, 2020 / 09:46 PM IST

The World Economic Forum (WEF) will be held in Singapore instead of Switzerland next year as the COVID-19 pandemic would make it difficult to ensure the health and safety of participants in Europe, WEF organisers said on December 7.

"The World Economic Forum will convene the Special Annual Meeting 2021 in Singapore from 13-16 May. It will return to Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, for the Annual Meeting 2022," the organisers said in a statement, released a day earlier than planned after Reuters reported the news.

WEF president Borge Brende said in an internal email seen by Reuters that health and safety concerns linked to the current COVID-19 situation in Europe made it impossible to organise the meeting in Lucerne-Buergenstock as initially planned, while Singapore had been successful in dealing with the pandemic.

"After careful consideration, and in light of the current situation with regards to COVID-19 cases, it was decided that Singapore was best placed to hold the meeting," organisers said.

They had already decided in October to move the annual meeting of world political and business leaders to Buergenstock in central Switzerland from the hard-to-get-to ski resort Davos that has hosted the high-profile event since the early 1970s.

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