From left: Luxembourg deputy prime minister Étienne Schneider, Crown Princess Stéphanie, Luxembourg Expo2020 commissioner Maggy Nagel, Crown Prince Guillaume, Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum and executive director of Expo2020 Najeeb Al-Ali, in Dubai on 11 October 2017 SIP/Jean-Christophe Verhaegen

From left: Luxembourg deputy prime minister Étienne Schneider, Crown Princess Stéphanie, Luxembourg Expo2020 commissioner Maggy Nagel, Crown Prince Guillaume, Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum and executive director of Expo2020 Najeeb Al-Ali, in Dubai on 11 October 2017 SIP/Jean-Christophe Verhaegen

Speaking at the signing of the participation agreement in Dubai during a trade mission to the UAE, Étienne Schneider said: “As for the pavillion, we will repatriate it to Luxembourg after the Expo2020 and it will host the future Luxembourg space agency.”

Expo2020 is a universal exhibition of projects around sustainability, mobility and opportunity under the banner “Connecting Minds, Creating the Future”. It takes place in Dubai from October 2020 to April 2021 over a 600-hectare site.

Luxembourg’s pavillion, which is the first to be formally confirmed, will be created around the theme “resourceful Luxembourg”. Luxembourg sustainable development minister François Bausch said the pavillion design is still being finalised.

The signing was conducted during a visit of a delegation which included hereditary Grand Duke and Duchess, Guillaume and Stéphanie, deputy prime minister Étienne Schneider, and infrastructure minister François Bausch.

The UAE was represented by Expo2020 chairman Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum and Director General of the Office of Expo 2020 Reem Al Hashimy.

Minister Schneider said the UAE was Luxembourg’s most important trading partner in the Gulf region. He said Luxembourg’s presence at Expo2020 “will provide a unique opportunity to further enhance Luxembourg's profile as a gateway to Europe for business and investors in the Middle East and East.”