Economy Minister, Etienne Schneider, said Luxembourg is applying the same strategy to attracting space companies as it did to boost its financial sector.
13.11.2017
Luxembourg generates almost 2% of its
GDP from the space industry, economy minister Etienne Schneider said
at a conference in the US on Saturday.
During his speech at the New Worlds
Conference in Texas, Schneider said space mining is a focus for
Luxembourg, CNBC reported.
He said the Grand Duchy is applying the
same strategy to attracting space companies as it did to boost its
financial sector – by using the same "liberal, extremely business
friendly climate".
Speaking to CNBC after the event,
Schneider described Luxembourg's space resources initiative as a "series of
measures to position Luxembourg as the European heart of exploration
and use of space resources" and said the industry has "strong
public support".
The deputy prime minister said space
mining is Luxembourg's present focus and while he does not foresee
the industry exceeding 2% of the GDP in the very near future, he said
it "could be 5%, but that may be 10 or 15 years".
Earlier this year Luxembourg parliament
adopted a draft law on the exploration and use of space resources,
making the Grand Duchy the first European country to offer an
official framework for private investors and operators.
It came into force on August 1 and acts
as a legal and regulatory framework which ensures private operators
ownership of the resources they extract from space and establishes
procedures for authorising and supervising space exploration
missions.
"Luxembourg is the first adopter
in Europe of a legal and regulatory framework recognising that space
resources are capable of being owned by private companies,"
Schneider said in a statement at the time.
According to data
obtained in July
from the economy
ministry, the space industry employs more than 700
people in Luxembourg.