World Economic Forum Again Delays Annual Meeting Due To Pandemic Travel Restrictions

Fresh off the annual Davos Agenda held in greatly modified form the last week of January (that is… not really at all), which simply involved some world leaders giving speeches virtually, the global pandemic has continued to disrupt plans to hold World Economic Forum meetings in person. 

The WEF announced Wednesday that it will reschedule the Special Annual Meeting in Singapore originally planned for May. Citing the difficulty of various international travel restrictions and quarantine requirements, the organization announced it will be pushed back to August to allow for more time for necessary arrangements. 

We should note, however, it’s the one meeting in the world in which most participants travel there by private jet anyway, or other transport means typically exclusive to the 1%, not to mention standard travel for heads of state typically precludes having to go through busy hubs and terminals. 

The originally scheduled May meeting had already been delayed for 12 days in a prior change, but now the Geneva-based WEF has indicated the new dates of Aug. 17-20.

“Although the World Economic Forum and Government of Singapore remain confident of the measures in place to ensure a safe and effective meeting, and local transmission of COVID-19 in Singapore remains at negligible levels, the change to the meeting’s timing reflects the international challenges in containing the pandemic,” it said in a statement announcing the change.

The 2021 annual meeting in Singapore will aim to address “challenges in containing the pandemic” and the continuing theme of global economic reset in the wake of global lockdowns and unprecedented hurdles. 

Recent years saw record upticks in private jets flown to WEF summits…

Record private jet flights into Davos as leaders arrive for climate talk https://t.co/dk8yThdCCk

— The Guardian (@guardian) January 22, 2019

Singapore was initially chosen as it “has a relatively low rate of Covid-19 cases, and has recently started experimenting with modified versions of large-scale conference,” according to prior reporting.

This also as Switzerland has struggled with a surge of infections in recent months. It’s still expected that Singapore will offer a virtual component alongside in-person meetings in order to further maximize participation.