Consul General and Executive Director at the Luxembourg Trade & Investment Office in San Francisco, Georges Schmit, has joined the Government's Advisory Board of the recently-launched spaceresources.lu initiative.

Prior to his current position which he has been holding since 2009, Mr. Schmit acted as Director General for Enterprise Policy, Economic Development and Foreign Trade, Secretary General, and Director of Industry at the Luxembourg Ministry of the Economy and Foreign Trade, which he joined in 1981. From 1995 to 2002, he held the role of Executive Chairman of the National Credit and Investment Corporation (SNCI), a State-owned development bank.

During this time, Georges Schmit was a Member of the Board of Directors of the Luxembourg-based steel and mining company Arbed for over 17 years, and then ArcelorMittal. He was also a Director of SES and POST Luxembourg until 2009.

Georges Schmit is a recognised expert on trade and investment, innovation and start-up promotion, economic development and enterprise policy. The news followed the announcement that longstanding Director of NASA-Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California, Simon "Pete" Worden, joined the Advisory Board in mid-May 2016.

Georges Schmit stated he was honoured to support the government's efforts in establishing Luxembourg as a prime location for advanced space technologies projects, commenting: "Spaceresources.lu is a bold but highly promising initiative, taking humankind to new unexplored horizons and creating new opportunities on Earth."

"I am delighted to welcome Georges Schmit in this new role in hiw country of origin which he has well served during his distinguished career," Luxembourg Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Economy, Étienne Schneider, added. "I am convinced that Georges' valuable expertise and long expertise further strengthens the Advisory Board of spaceresources.lu, an initiative of which he was one of the early instigators. His contribution and advice will have an important and positive impact on future activities in the frame of the spaceresources.lu initiative."

The Luxembourg Government Advisory Board on Space Resources is due to meet on Friday 3 June 2016 to discuss the future strategy of the initiative, aimed at outlining a framework for the exploration and commercial utilisation of resources from space objects.

 

Photo by MECO