Annual S'pore defence summit cancelled over Covid 'uncertainty'


Singapore, May 20 (IANS): An upcoming annual meeting of Defence Ministers and security officials in Singapore has been cancelled for the second year in a row due to "uncertainty" over the Covid-19 pandemic, organisers said on Thursday.

The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), a London-based think tank, said that holding an in-person Shangri-la Dialogue "has become inviable" due uncertainty caused by "the deteriorating global Covid-19 situation", reports dpa news agency.

The dialogue was to take place on June 4-5, with "a wide range of Defence Ministers, senior officials, corporate leaders and influential strategists from Asia, North America, the Middle East and Europe" set to attend.

Among the speakers was US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin, on his first official visit to South-East Asia.

In recent years the event, which was usually attended by Defence Ministers from the UK, France and Germany, saw Chinese and US officials spar verbally over the South China Sea and Taiwan.

Singapore has seen a slight uptick in coronavirus case numbers in recent weeks, prompting the reintroduction of some restrictions.

Forty-one new cases were reported by the Health Ministry on Thursday.

"In Singapore there has been a rise in local cases, recently introduced new restrictions, and the prospect of further tightening cannot be ruled out, all of which creates uncertainty," the IISS said.

Singapore's Defence Ministry said that although the cancellation was "regretful", it was "the responsible course".

The cancellation comes after the World Economic Forum said on Monday that its annual meeting, which earlier had been moved from Davos to Singapore, would not be going ahead in August as scheduled.

 

  

Top Stories


Leave a Comment

Title: Annual S'pore defence summit cancelled over Covid 'uncertainty'



You have 2000 characters left.

Disclaimer:

Please write your correct name and email address. Kindly do not post any personal, abusive, defamatory, infringing, obscene, indecent, discriminatory or unlawful or similar comments. Daijiworld.com will not be responsible for any defamatory message posted under this article.

Please note that sending false messages to insult, defame, intimidate, mislead or deceive people or to intentionally cause public disorder is punishable under law. It is obligatory on Daijiworld to provide the IP address and other details of senders of such comments, to the authority concerned upon request.

Hence, sending offensive comments using daijiworld will be purely at your own risk, and in no way will Daijiworld.com be held responsible.