World Economic Forum says annual meeting in Davos will be delayed until summer 2021

The World Economic Forum announced Wednesday that it decided to postpone its upcoming annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, due to safety concerns and in an effort to slow the spread of Covid-19, CNBC reports.

The meeting, originally scheduled for January in the Alpine ski resort, will be rescheduled to “early next summer,” according to Adrian Monck, managing director of public engagement at the Forum.

“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,” Monck said in a statement.

“However, the advice from experts is that we cannot do so safely in January.”

The World Economic Forum’s annual summit in Davos is routinely one of the globe’s largest collections of world leaders and corporate executives.

This year’s gathering, which took place over four days starting Jan. 21, featured commentary from President Donald Trump, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde and climate activist Greta Thunberg.

The 2020 conference also included Wall Street and finance bigwigs, and counted among its ranks billionaire George Soros, hedge-fund manager Paul Tudor Jones, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, and Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio.

The World Economic Forum also announced Wednesday that, instead of the in-person session, it will host a “high-level,” digital forum called “Davos Dialogues” during the week of Jan. 25, 2021. Monck said the platform will feature global leaders and offer them a chance to present ideas on the state of the world in 2021.

The organization said details on the new dates and location of the rescheduled in-person forum will be made available “as soon as we are assured that all conditions are fulfilled to guarantee the healthy and safety of our participants and the hosting community.”