The Minister of Economy, Franz Fayot, attended the Gipfeltreffen der Weltmarktführer (Summit of World Market Leaders) in Schwäbisch Hall, where he delivered a speech entitled "How Luxembourg is preparing its economy for tomorrow: resilience through green and digital transformation" during the first morning session dedicated to the role of world leaders in this period of geopolitical turmoil. The Minister then took part in a round table on the same subject, to which two Luxembourg companies were also invited, namely Ceratizit and Artec 3D. The Minister's participation was coordinated with the help of the Luxembourg embassy in Berlin.
Organised annually by WirtschaftsWoche, Germany's leading magazine for business decision-makers, and the Akademie Deutscher Weltmarktführer, the "Gipfeltreffen der Weltmarktführer" aims to bring together leading German entrepreneurs to share experiences and discuss best practices and the latest trends in the industry. This year's Summit took place on the 1st and 2nd of February and focused on the theme of the ongoing crises that many entrepreneurs and world leaders are facing. The programme is divided into 4 main subjects: decarbonisation in industry, digital transformation, shortage of raw materials and lack of talent.
After highlighting the good cooperation between Germany and Luxembourg, particularly in the fields of digital health and space, the Minister for the Economy gave some thoughts on how to emerge stronger from these successive crises. He stated: "Globalisation, as we have experienced it, has reached its limits. We must take advantage of this crucial moment to question ourselves, learn from our mistakes and better prepare for the future. In this context, the resilience of our economy, in which friendshoring and nearshoring play a key role, needs to be strengthened". He stressed the importance of producing strategic goods (such as medicines, electronic chips, etc.) in Europe so that they are available in times of crisis despite supply chain problems. Then he added: "Diversification of our sources of supply is crucial. We need to reduce our economic dependence by focusing more on local and regional production, while consistently increasing the number of partner countries. This applies to Luxembourg, but also to the European Union as a whole. This is the strategic vision that we are pursuing in Luxembourg, in particular through our road map 'Ons Wirtschaft vu Muer', and the strategic plan of the EU also reflects these ambitions".
Indeed, the European Commission has just published its 'Zero Emissions Industry Act' as part of the Green Deal Industrial Plan, which aims to support European industry in its energy and climate transition. One of the main objectives is to stimulate European industrial investment in clean technologies, in particular by increasing production capacity in key sectors (hydrogen, electronic chips, batteries) in order to achieve climate neutrality for the EU by 2050. Production targets will be set by 2030, administrative procedures will be simplified and a test regulatory environment will be created to facilitate the testing of disruptive technologies. The Green Deal Industrial Plan will be presented at the next EU summit on 9-10 February.
Press release by the Ministry of the Economy