2 Conference during the COVID-19 pandemic

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in March 2020, the UN decided to postpone the Kyoto Congress, originally scheduled for April 2020. The Congress was held from March 7 to 12, 2021. The Congress was the first large international conference in Japan after the COVID-19 pandemic. Many measures were taken to prevent the spread of the infection, in accordance with the guidelines set by the Japanese government and the UN. The Congress was held in a “hybrid format” combining limited in-person participants at the conference center with a large number of participants worldwide attending by means of joining an interactive online platform.

The Congress brought together over 5,000 participants registered from a record high 152 Member States through the hybrid format. No positive cases of COVID-19 were found among the in-person participants related to the Congress.