The World Economic Forum (WEF) has announced its planned return to the Swiss town of Davos in 2022. The famous annual meeting of the Forum had been forced to cancel due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The famous Davos summit - which usually takes place at the end of January each year - was unable to take place in person in 2021. It was initially moved to Singapore due to its relative lack of COVID-19 cases by comparison with Switzerland, only for the Forum to eventually cancel its meeting as a result of the pandemic and travel restrictions associated with the crisis.
Fortunately, the Forum has announced that the annual meeting, which is attended by the world’s most powerful politicians, business representatives and civil society organisations, will take place in person in the Swiss town once again in January 2022.
The theme of the 2021 event was to discuss “the Great Reset” - a call to reconsider the meaning of capitalism, neoliberalism and the great emphasis policymakers have placed on free-market economics, in light of the new post-COVID world. Previous topics covered at the conference have informed taxation, education and social security in Switzerland and around the world. The conference remains one of the largest international gatherings in Switzerland and provides a boon for the local economy.
Originally set up as the European Management Forum, the WEF has grown into a key conference for global leaders, economists, celebrities and journalists to discuss issues facing the world economy.
The event has, however, come under fire in recent years for having high security costs paid for by the Swiss government, while the organisation itself has been accused of not paying taxes in Switzerland, and encouraging elitism. The NGO has faced much criticism from the Swiss public since the early 2000s, with protests often taking place outside the annual meeting in Davos. This led to the Swiss federal government cutting part of its funding for the Switzerland-based NGO in 2021.