World Economic Forum to hold 2022 annual meeting in Davos in May

The WEF had in December postponed the event for the business and political elite a month before it was due to take place, citing the difficulties of holding such an in-person conference amid the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant.

"After all the virtual meetings taking place in the last two years, leaders from politics, business and civil society have to convene finally in person again," WEF founder and Chairman Klaus Schwab said in a statement.

"We need to establish the atmosphere of trust that is truly needed to accelerate collaborative action and to address the multiple challenges we face."

Topics on the agenda will include the pandemic recovery, tackling climate change, building a better future for work, accelerating stakeholder capitalism, and harnessing the technologies of the fourth industrial revolution, it said.

The WEF will coordinate closely with the Swiss government on the public health situation, it said, adding the meeting would take place as long as conditions were in place to guarantee the health and safety of participants and the host community.