World Economic Forum Postpones Dublin Meeting

The World Economic Forum have today (Friday 18 July 2003) informed the Irish Government that they wish to postpone the Competitiveness Summit which was originally scheduled to take place in Dublin on 20-21 October 2003. The World Economic Forum have instead suggested merging the theme of the Summit with the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, which takes place during the Irish Presidency of the EU.

Responding to the World Economic Forum decision, the Tánaiste, Mary Harney and Minister for Enterprise, Trade & Employment said that the Irish Government had been very willing to host the Summit and was disappointed that it would not now go ahead. "The Dublin Summit would have presented an ideal opportunity to discuss important issues concerning competitiveness in Europe. In the light of the World Economic Forum decision not to proceed, I hope that the World Economic Forum will continue with a special focus on Competitiveness during the Davos Summit in January next year" said the Tánaiste.

Notes for Editors

The following is the text of a press release issued today by the World Economic Forum in Geneva -

The World Economic Forum has taken the decision to postpone its European Economic Summit until the Spring of 2004.

Originally scheduled to take place in Dublin, Ireland, in October, the Summit was to have focussed on European Competitiveness. In view of the fact that the Forum's Global Competitiveness Report 2003-2004 will be published only in November, the discussion on the comparative strengths and weaknesses of the 25 countries of Europe can better be held later in the year in order to take the latest findings into account. The World Economic Forum's second Lisbon Review which tracks the progress of European Union members in meeting the criteria of the Lisbon agenda established in 2000 will also be released at the same time.

The World Economic Forum will be incorporating the findings of both reports into the programme of the Annual Meeting in Davos in January. Issues of European competitiveness arising from the studies will be discussed at that time.

ENDS