The 2003 edition of the Leather Link conference, scheduled for June 6-7 in Moscow, has been postponed.

“We have made this decision with considerable regret but we did not want our valued customers from East and West to travel to Moscow without the assurance that business partners sufficient in numbers and quality would be there to meet them,” organisers Paris-based SIC Group said in a statement issued earlier today.

“The world economic situation, the downturn in the leather industry, the SARS problem and the consequences of the Iraq war are making people disinclined to travel or to invest time and money. It seems unwise to hold the event before the general outlook has improved and our leather industry is sufficiently back on its feet again to positively look forward to the future. We are watching and monitoring that moment closely.”

The company said a new date for later in 2003, or possibly 2004, would be issued in due course.