INTA to relocate the 2020 Annual Meeting from Singapore to a venue in the United States

Etienne Sanz de Acedo, Chief Executive Officer of INTA, announced yesterday that, due to the coronavirus, it is taking steps to relocate forlate May or June the 2020 Annual Meeting from Singapore to a venue in the United States. The full text of the announcement is set out below.

IPKat wishes INTA all the best in its efforts under trying circumstances.

Dear Friend,

As you know, INTA has been continuously monitoring the coronavirus outbreak in relation to the Association’s 2020 Annual Meeting, April 25–29, inSingapore. The health and safety of Annual Meeting registrants is our main priority. We are announcing today that we are working to reschedule INTA’s Annual Meeting in Singapore until 2022 (date in 2022 to be announced). In addition, we will be relocating the 2020 Annual Meeting to a date in May or June and a venue in the United States. We will provide an update as soon as we confirm details.

This decision follows the evolving developments, continuing uncertainty, and global concerns regarding the coronavirus, as well as guidance from the Singapore Ministry of Health to event organizers to cancel or defer non-essential large-scale events. It comes after much thoughtful discussion with our internal team and consultation with outside counsel, and in agreement with INTA’s President, Officers, and Counsel. We firmly believe that we are making the most judicious decision, so as not to jeopardize the health and safety of registrants, staff, and the public.

At INTA, we pride ourselves on being a community, and we hope that you understand and support our decision. We apologize for any inconvenience this necessary change in plans has caused you and your organization.

As noted above, we will be rescheduling the 2020 Annual Meeting to May or June in a venue in the United States, and are moving as quickly as possible to make these new arrangements. As you can well imagine, there are significant logistics involved in planning and holding a gathering of this size. We ask for your patience and will provide an update as soon as possible.

We appreciate the collaboration and flexibility of the respective government agencies in Singapore, the Singapore Exhibition and Convention Bureau, the Marina Bay Sands, and bnetwork (the official housing provider for the Meeting), and other Singapore vendors, in working with us to reschedule the Annual Meeting in Singapore. We look forward to holding our gathering in Singapore in 2022.

Most of all, we hold in our thoughts all those affected by the coronavirus.

Thank you for your patience as we worked through this challenging situation. We appreciate that our members and other stakeholders value the Annual Meeting, and we look forward to welcoming you to the 2020 Annual Meeting in the United States and to future gatherings. For further updates, please watch for communications from us or visit our website, www.inta.org.