World Economic Forum cancels August annual meeting in Singapore; location for 2022 yet to be decided
SINGAPORE — The World Economic Forum (WEF) on Monday (May 17) cancelled its special annual meeting this year, which was scheduled for August in Singapore.

The World Economic Forum (WEF) on May 17, 2021 called off its special annual meeting this year, which was scheduled for August in Singapore.
SINGAPORE — The World Economic Forum (WEF) on Monday (May 17) cancelled its special annual meeting this year, which was scheduled for August in Singapore.
“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,” WEF said in a statement in reference to the Covid-19 pandemic across the world.
“This is despite the excellent support provided by the Government of Singapore.”
The next annual meeting will instead take place in the first half of 2022 and the 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 Professor Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the WEF.
“But ultimately the health and safety of everyone concerned is our highest priority.”
The 2021 WEF special annual meeting was originally set to be held in Singapore from May 13 to 16, but was pushed back two weeks to May 25 to 28. It was later postponed to August due to the global Covid-19 situation.
In a media statement, Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry said the Government will continue to work actively with WEF and other key international organisations to promote collaboration on issues of global concern.
“The Singapore Government fully appreciates the challenges faced by the ongoing global pandemic, particularly for a large meeting with a broad span of international participants,” the ministry said.