The Davos Forum definitively cancels the annual meeting for 2021

Image of the last annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, held in January 2020 DENIS BALIBOUSE / Reuters

2021 will go down in the little history of the World Economic Forum (WEF) as the year in which the usual annual meeting was not held. The WEF leadership announced on Monday its decision to cancel the annual meeting it had planned to hold in August in Singapore, due to the "tragic circumstances that are taking place in different parts of the world" and the uncertain prospects for traveling to the small city. -State due to restrictions imposed by the pandemic.

In its statement, the Forum, which regularly holds its annual meeting every January at the Swiss Davos station, assures that the 2022 meeting will be held in the first half of the year.

The location where it is held "will be decided based on the analysis of the situation at the end of this summer."

Every January the WEF meeting at the exclusive Swiss ski resort attracts political and business leaders from around the world, making up a hardly repeatable panorama of celebrities and billionaires.

Rebound in cases in the city-state

The organization's decision comes after a spike in COVID-19 cases in Singapore, where the WEF had moved the event this year. The organization assures that the different rates of vaccination around the world and "the uncertainty that arises with the new variants" make up a scenario in which "it is difficult to carry out a meeting on a global scale."

The pandemic has repeatedly modified the Forum's plans for this year, which was held in person for the last time in January 2020. After suspending this year's face-to-face meeting in Switzerland - a virtual meeting was held - the WEF decided to wink at Asia and move the meeting to Singapore, which until then had successfully dealt with the pandemic. "It was a difficult decision," says the founder of the Davos Forum, Klaus Schwab, in a note. "But the health and safety of those affected is our top priority."