Luxembourg Confirms Osaka World Expo 2025 Participation

At the end of the half-yearly meeting of the Trade and Investment Board (TIB) on Wednesday 4 May 2022, Luxembourg's Minister of the Economy, Franz Fayot, and the President of the Chamber of Commerce, Luc Frieden, presented the main topics of the meeting, namely the war in Ukraine and Luxembourg's participation in the World Exhibition in Osaka in 2025.

On the occasion of the Osaka World Exhibition 2025, Luxembourg will participate for the 25th time in a world exhibition. The pavilion that will be developed on this occasion will reflect the country's desire to focus on sustainable and innovative development, in line with the UN's sustainable development goals. The Luxembourg pavilion will be designed in a spirit of circularity, as provided for in the specifications of the call for projects launched in February 2022. It is expected that the design of the pavilion will allow it to be easily dismantled, transported and, if necessary optional, adjustable. In addition, a reflection on the materials used, their durability and their reuse must have been carried out. At the beginning of June 2022, a jury composed of representatives of the various ministries involved, as well as the Chamber of Commerce, the Order of Architects and Consulting Engineers and the Administration of Public Buildings will meet to select the winning project.

Minister Fayot underlined: "The profile of this world exhibition, which proposes, through its central theme 'Designing the society of the future, imagining our life of tomorrow', to explore all the facets of sustainable development, will be the opportunity to position Luxembourg as an innovative country and to highlight our ambition to combine economy and ecology, in particular through an exemplary implementation of the principles of the circular economy. I am also very happy with the decision of the Chamber of Commerce to associate itself as a partner with our presence in Osaka.”

During the press conference, Minister Fayot also announced that after the state visit to Portugal in the coming week, two further large-scale foreign trips are planned for 2022 as part of promotion and economic prospecting. Thus, an official economic mission chaired by H.R.H. the Hereditary Grand Duke will be led by the Minister of the Economy, Franz Fayot, and the Director General of the Chamber of Commerce, Carlo Thelen, to Canada from 19 to 24 June 2022 and an another economic mission, towards the end of the year, will be destined for South Korea.

The TIB meeting was also an opportunity to take stock of the consequences of the war in Ukraine for foreign trade and the activity of Luxembourg companies. Significant upheavals for world economies, including that of Luxembourg, and for a number of key sectors are indeed the consequence of this conflict. Logistics and the continuity of supply chains are strongly impacted, at the same time, the prices of energy and raw materials increase sharply and supply can be called into question.

In order to answer the many questions from companies and to offer them a single point of contact in the context of this crisis, the Chamber of Commerce, the Ministry of the Economy as well as the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs and the Ministry of Finance have set up a helpdesk. This contact and support point collects questions from Luxembourg companies in the context of the war in Ukraine in order to provide the most appropriate answers to the various issues.

Luc Frieden said: “The Luxembourg economy depends on its international openness. International trade not only contributes to the prosperity of all, but also strengthens understanding and collaboration between nations. This is why it is important to bet on the diversification of economic relations.”

The Trade and Investment Board is responsible, as an advisory body for foreign trade and investments, for developing the strategy for promoting the Luxembourg economy in order to facilitate Luxembourg companies' access to international markets and to attract foreign direct investment in a targeted manner, in particular by bringing together the actors concerned. Placed under the honorary presidency of H.R.H. the Hereditary Grand Duke, the TIB is chaired by the Minister of the Economy, and brings together representatives of other ministries and organisations involved in economic promotion and prospecting (Chamber of Commerce, FEDIL, Luxinnovation and Chamber of Trades).