World Economic Forum founder Klaus Schwab in Singapore to prepare for Special Annual Meeting in August

SINGAPORE: The World Economic Forum (WEF) team, including its founder and executive chairman Klaus Schwab, is in Singapore to prepare for the Special Annual Meeting in August.

In a Facebook post on Tuesday (Feb 9), Minister for Trade and Industry Chan Chun Sing said he had a wide-ranging discussion with the WEF team on a variety of issues.

These include the "urgent need" to deal with the economic and social challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Singapore will continue to work closely with WEF to organise a safe and successful meeting addressing the global challenges of combating the pandemic and supporting global economic recovery," said Mr Chan. 

The Special Annual Meeting was recently rescheduled to August from May, with the WEF saying that current global travel restrictions have made planning difficult for an in-person meeting in the first half of this year.

READ: World Economic Forum Special Annual Meeting in Singapore rescheduled to August

"Furthermore, differing quarantine and air transport regulations have increased the lead time necessary to ensure that participants globally can make arrangements to join," WEF said in a news release earlier this month. 

The Special Annual Meeting in Singapore will be the first global leadership summit to address the challenges of recovering from the pandemic, said the WEF. The meeting is usually held in Davos, Switzerland.