World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting in Davos rescheduled to May 22-26

The World Economic Forum will hold its 2022 annual meeting in the Swiss mountain resort of Davos from May 22-26, the Geneva-based group announced on Friday. As per the press note, under the theme, ‘Working Together, Restoring Trust’, the Annual Meeting 2022 will be the first global in-person leadership event since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The summit will return to Davos-Klosters after a two-year hiatus as the event could not be held in 2021 as well due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman, World Economic Forum, said, “After all the virtual meetings taking place in the last two years, leaders from politics, business and civil society have to convene finally in person again. We need to establish the atmosphere of trust that is truly needed to accelerate collaborative action and to address the multiple challenges we face.” 

Further, as per the press release, the upcoming summit will offer world leaders an opportunity to take stock of the state of the world and share partnerships and policies for the crucial period ahead. Topics on the agenda include the pandemic recovery, tackling climate change, building a better future for work, accelerating stakeholder capitalism, and harnessing the technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. 

The group said that the WEF will continue to communicate closely with the Swiss government on the public health situation in Switzerland. It added that the meeting will take place as long as all necessary conditions are in place to guarantee the health and safety of its participants and the host community. 

Virtual Davos Agenda summit

Meanwhile, it is to mention that the announcement came on the last day of the WEF's virtual Davos Agenda summit, which began on January 17 - the day when the 2022 annual meeting was originally scheduled to start but had to be deferred due to the outbreak of the Omicron variant of COVID-19. Indian PM Narendra Modi and Chinese leader Xi Jinping have already addressed the online summit this year. The WEF said that during the Davos Agenda 2022, heads of state and government and international organisations shared their priorities for a challenging year ahead. 

“They (world leaders) joined leaders from business and civil society and spoke on the global economic outlook, inequality, healthy futures, climate and resilience,” it added. 

(Image: AP)