(L-R): Xavier Bettel, Prime Minister; Chuck Robbins, CEO of Cisco;
Credit: SIP
Prior to his participation in the World Economic Forum in Davos in Switzerland, Luxembourg's Prime Minister Xavier Bettel, in his capacity as Minister of Culture, participated in a conference of Ministers of Culture from 20 to 22 January 2018; the purpose of the adopted declaration is to promote the ideas and principles of building quality culture.
Prime Minister Bettel then visited the World Economic Forum in Davos from 23 to 25 January 2018. This year, the theme of the forum was "Creating a Shared Future in a Fractured World". The forum allowed the Luxembourg Prime Minister to meet decision makers from the economic, political and social world in order to promote the economic attractiveness of Luxembourg.
A series of bilateral meetings and informal meetings were held with business leaders, representatives of civil society and policy makers. These discussions also made it possible to discuss major political and economic issues.
On Monday 22 January, PM Bettel participated in a round table on "blended finance and innovation for better business better world". During this event, he particularly emphasised the need for governments to find global solutions to global problems by relying more on partnerships between the public and the private sector.
On Tuesday 23 January, a series of bilateral meetings took place, in particular with representatives of companies already established and active in Luxembourg such as Arcelor-Mittal and Paypal.
Xavier Bettel also met with Chuck Robbins, CEO of Cisco, with whom he signed a memorandum of understanding. This collaboration agreement aims to accelerate the digitisation of Luxembourg in line with the "Digital Lëtzebuerg" initiative, the cornerstone of the country's digital transformation roadmap. As part of this agreement, the government intends to focus on four pillars: education, cyber security, the Internet of Things ("IoT") and the FinTech domain.
At the signing of this agreement, PM Bettel said: "Luxembourg aims to be a digital leader in Europe" before continuing "This is not only to attract more investment and continue to develop the country's digital sector, but also to prepare - particularly through innovative methods at the level of Education - the skills that our citizens will need in the future".
