ZURICH/SINGAPORE－The World Economic Forum's annual gathering of political and business leaders will move from Switzerland to Singapore next year as the COVID-19 pandemic would make it challenging to host the event safely in Europe, organizers said on Monday.

It is only the second time the event, known informally as Davos after the Swiss ski resort where it is usually held every January, will be hosted outside Switzerland since its inception in 1971, and mark its debut in Asia.

"The World Economic Forum will convene the Special Annual Meeting 2021 in Singapore from 13-16 May. It will return to Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, for the Annual Meeting 2022," the organizers said in a statement.

WEF President Borge Brende said in an email that health and safety concerns linked to the COVID-19 outbreak in Europe made it impossible to organize the meeting in Lucerne-Buergenstock as initially planned, while Singapore had been successful in dealing with the pandemic.

The organizers had already decided in October to shift the annual meeting to Buergenstock in central Switzerland from the harder-to-getto Alpine resort of Davos.

Moving the meeting to Singapore, a financial hub that is also known as the Switzerland of Asia, will allow an in-person meeting, the "first global leadership event to address worldwide recovery from the pandemic", organizers added.

Singapore said its planned virus safety measures for the event could include on-arrival tests, pre-event and periodic antigen testing, as well as contact tracing of those attending.

The city-state has kept its borders largely shut for most of 2020 and won international plaudits for its handling of the virus.

Agencies - Xinhua