(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.)

MUMBAI - Singapore is a natural home for the World Economic Forum’s annual shindig. Although rubber shoe covers are more appropriate footwear than crampons, the tropical city state makes for a decent approximation of Davos, the alpine Swiss enclave that regularly hosts the event. It is clean, safe and has one of the world’s best-connected airports. The place also functions as a regional private wealth hub and is neutral enough. With a future billionaire class emerging from Asia, it might even suit as the more a permanent site.

The island nation could truly claim its mantle as “the Switzerland of the east” if the WEF chooses Singapore for its 2021 gathering, as Bloomberg reported is possible. The resurgence of coronavirus-related lockdowns in Europe may have scuppered Chairman Klaus Schwab’s original Plan B, to keep the festivities in Switzerland, in nearby Lucerne-Buergenstock. Like Switzerland, the Asian hub has had its bank scandals too with institutions engulfed in the 1MDB money laundering drama.

A faster return to normalcy makes Singapore, which shrugged off most domestic pandemic containment restrictions in June, an obvious choice. Hong Kong’s political tensions are an obstacle. A new national security law imposed by Beijing, where loosely defined crimes of subversion and collusion with foreign forces can be punished with up to life in prison, would be a turn-off for many visitors from democratic nations.

It has been nearly two decades since chief executives and statesmen convened for the event somewhere other than Davos. In 2002, New York was chosen, supposedly out of solidarity after the 9/11 attacks, but senior U.S. delegates also were reluctant to travel overseas because of security concerns.

A shift east would be more profound because it would follow the money. Asia is home to 831 billionaires, per the latest edition of a report on the world’s richest people by UBS and PwC. It is the region with the highest tally, representing 38% of the total billionaire population holding wealth amounting to $10.2 trillion. They are a more self-made bunch than their Western counterparts and their fortunes have proved to be more resilient of late. If Singapore lands the Davos set in 2021, it could be auditioning for a more enduring role.

 

CONTEXT NEWS

- The World Economic Forum has held preliminary talks to host its annual meeting in Singapore, but no official decision has been made, Bloomberg reported on Dec. 2.

- The group announced plans in October to hold the event in Lucerne-Buergenstock, Switzerland, from May 18 to May 21. In August, it decided not to have it in Davos, Switzerland, in January as usual due to the coronavirus pandemic. The WEF intends to make a final decision by Christmas, according to the Bloomberg report.

 

(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.)

(Editing by Jeffrey Goldfarb and Katrina Hamlin) ((una.galani@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging: una.galani.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))