World Rubber Summit 2021 will be held as a virtual event this June

Singapore – The International Rubber Study Group (IRSG) announced that the World Rubber Summit (WRS) 2021 will be held as a virtual event on the 8-11 June 2021.
The World Rubber Summit (WRS) is designed as the leading global discussion forum where a platform is given to producers, users, traders, financial institutions, R&D organizations, NGOs and academia to meet, together with Governments’ representatives, and exchange views on the major challenging confronting the rubber economy.
The theme of this year event is “Facing the Future: Inclusiveness, Sustainability and Growth for the Next Normal”.
Moving to the current decade, the global economy has witnessed one of the worst economic crisis in history. In addition to the tragic loss of life, the COVID-19 pandemic has rolled back decades of progress on poverty and has exposed social and economic inequalities. The victims of its social and economic costs have mainly been children and young adults, people who cannot easily work from home, generally the less skilled, women and ethnic priorities.
The global economy contracted by 3.5% in 2020, but the economic shock of the pandemic crisis has the potential to provide an opportunity for transformative growth. The Rubber Economy is not an exception. New mobility, digitalization, climate change and the development of the “green economy” are among the driving forces that will determine the future for the rubber sector. Mature and emerging markets might take years to reach pre-crisis level as lost sales are not going to recover fully.

To embrace an inclusive and sustainable recovery all stakeholders are called to cooperate in restructuring supply chains, implement diligent information sharing, promote green investments, capacity building and upskilling to generate positive social and environmental outcomes. These actions need to be enabled and supported through policy reforms and regulations. The recovery that lies ahead of us will bring multiple opportunities for governments, businesses and consumers to drive a real change towards a more socially responsible production and consumption to assure a fair, inclusive and sustainable rubber economy growth in this decade.