Singapore will hold its first business conference of scale this week since the coronavirus pandemic put ice to such activities in the city-state, amid ongoing efforts to restart its economy.

The Singapore International Energy Week starts Oct 26 with 250 participants and on-site staff, and hundreds more are slated to join virtually. Singapore has become a hub for oil and natural gas traders and — in a normal year — hosts dozens of conferences, roundtable discussions and happy hours for company officials to mingle and broker deals.

While places such as China and Taiwan have restarted business events from automotive shows to tech conferences with hundreds of participants, the Singapore event will be the city-state’s first step to reopening a key sector. Those who are attending the conference at the Marina Bay Sands are required to take a Covid-19 test, with results within 30 minutes, and must download a contact-tracing app.

Singapore’s government has rolled out strict measures to stop the spread of the virus, such as implementing a partial lock-down for two months, mandatory use of masks and limiting outdoor gatherings to just five people. The economy has gradually reopened since mid-June, and new local daily cases have dwindled in recent weeks to low single digits or zero.

The conference is viewed by authorities as a pilot to see if their measures can help create a safe environment to allow other large events, after other high-profile ones such as the Formula One race and Asia Pacific Petroleum Conference were scrapped or went online this year.

The most prominent speaker at Singapore International Energy Week will be Saudi Arabia’s oil minister Abdulaziz bin Salman, though the prince will be joining virtually. Some executives, such as Jochen Eickholt, a Siemens AG board member based in Germany, will be traveling to Singapore to attend the event.

This energy event comes ahead of December’s FinTech festival, that will also adopt the online and physical model. The conference, which attracted about 60,000 participants last year, will have speakers including Citigroup Inc.’s Chief Executive Officer-designate Jane Fraser, Standard Chartered Plc’s CEO Bill Winters and Microsoft Corp.’s CEO Satya Nadella.

Singapore's energy week conference to test reopening strategy

MSCI boss warns of climate risks

Keppel to acquire 50% stake in European asset manager Aermont Capital for up to $517 mil

Local banks 'resilient' in 2023, but MAS warns of deteriorating asset quality, climate transition risks

The new kings and queens of content

Singapore’s headline and core inflation figures increase to 4.7% and 3.3% in October

UOB Kay Hian lowers MPACT’s TP, DPU on lower contributions from China and further depreciation on forex

Matter of time before Straits Times Index stages rally

About 62.5% of shares in VTAC have been redeemed prior to the despac

The cybersecurity parasite hiding in plain sight

Singapore's energy week conference to test reopening strategy

Related News

Highlights

MSCI boss warns of climate risks

Related News

China rally is just an opportunity to sell for many global funds

GoTo CEO Soelistyo to step down; Walujo named successor

Peter Lim’s Thomson Medical eyes Vietnam FV Hospital deal