ZURICH (Reuters) – 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 president Borge Brende said in an email on Monday.
“The Managing Board took a very important decision today to move the Special Annual Meeting 2021 to Singapore (13-16 May),” Brende said in the email obtained by Reuters.
“We had foreseen to organize our Annual Meeting 2021 in Lucerne-Burgenstock this spring. Unfortunately, the current COVID-19 situation in Europe makes it unlikely that we would be able to create the necessary conditions to ensure the health and safety of our staff, participants and the broader community,” Brende said.
“Singapore has been successful in dealing with the pandemic,” he said.
He said partners would be informed later on Monday and a press release would be sent out on Tuesday.
(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay and Silke Koltrowitz; Editing by Toby Chopra)
