NEW DELHI: The World Economic Forum (WEF) will not hold its annual India Economic Summit this year as the country will be gearing up for the general elections, and the meet will become a biennial affair from 2019, a senior official has said.
"We will not organise India Economic Summit this year as we had to choose between doing this year or next, and we chose 2019 since the new government would have been elected by the time," WEF President Borge Brende told PTI here.
That apart, the WEF will not organise summits on Africa, Middle East and North Africa this year. The summits will now happen once every two years, Brende said.
The WEF which organises the summit in India in partnership with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), engages with the foremost political, business and other leaders to shape global, regional and industry agendas.
The Geneva-headquartered body had organised its 33rd India Economic Summit in New Delhi in October last year with the theme -- Creating Indian Narratives on Global Challenges.
Established in 1971, WEF is a not-for-profit foundation and is committed to improving the state of the world.
It holds its high profile annual meeting in January every year in Swiss ski resort town in Davos, which is attended by thousands of world leaders including from the government, business and civil societies.