World Economic Forum cancels summer Singapore summit
The World Economic Forum (WEF) has today cancelled its planned summit in Singapore due to Covid-related travel uncertainty.
The summit was going to happen in Singapore in August instead of at its usual location in Davos, Switzerland.
In a statement today, the WEF said: “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.”
The WEF said that the summit will now happen in the first half of 2022, however they said a final location and date will be decided later this year.
WEF founder and executive chairman Klaus Schwab said: “Ultimately the health and safety of everyone concerned is our highest priority.”
Singapore has seen a slight spike in Covid-19 cases in the past week, with 21 new cases recorded today.
The country has had just 31 deaths from 60,000 cases of coronavirus since the start of the pandemic.
There are also broader concerns about the virus raging in India and cases still being relatively high across Europe compared to in East Asia.
The World Economic Forum’s usual meeting at Davos brings together world leaders, chief executives of the globe’s largest companies, celebrities and academics to discuss the world’s economic challenges.