Yahoo Finance Davos 2021 delayed until summer due to COVID-19
Davos, the annual gathering of the rich and powerful in the Swiss mountains, will be delayed next year due to the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The World Economic Forum (WEF) said in a statement on Wednesday that its annual meeting, as Davos is officially known, would be delayed until summer 2021. The event had been due to take place in January.
“The decision was not taken easily, since the need for global leaders to come together to design a common recovery path and shape the ‘Great Reset’ in the post-COVID-19 era is so urgent,” Adrian Monck, managing director of public engagement at the World Economic Forum, said in a statement emailed to media.
“However, the advice from experts is that we cannot do so safely in January.”
The World Economic Forum will hold a “high-level” digital event will take place on the week of 25 January. Details of the rescheduled event will be confirmed “as soon as we are assured that all conditions are fulfilled to guarantee the health and safety of our participants and the hosting community,” Monck said.
Davos, which marked its 50th gathering earlier this year, is one of the biggest events in the global political and business calendar. Around 3,000 political leaders, chief executives, billionaires and power brokers descend on the Swiss skiing town of Davos each year for a week of talks and meetings about the biggest issues facing the world.
Last year’s attendees included Bill Gates, US President Donald Trump, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, European Central Bank chief Christine Lagarde, German chancellor Angela Merkel, and teenage climate campaigner Greta Thunberg.
WEF publishes an annual risk report each year ahead of Davos, looking at the biggest threats facing the plant. This year’s report concluded climate change was the biggest threat facing the planet.
