The Minister for Cooperation and Humanitarian Action, Franz Fayot, and Carlo Thelen, CEO/General Manager of the Chamber of Commerce, launched the 6th edition of the Luxembourg Cooperation’s Business Partnership Facility (BPF) on 1 March 2021. The online event saw the participation of nearly a hundred people, the vast majority of whom were entrepreneurs.

The BPF is a co-financing facility aimed at encouraging the Luxembourg and European private sector to join forces with partners in developing countries to set up sustainable business projects.

Co-financing is provided in the form of a grant of up to 50% of a project’s total budget, without exceeding the 200,000 euro threshold. It contributes to development and job creation in developing countries and to the transfer of technology and expertise.

This year, the sector “fight against the Covid-19 pandemic” has been added to the list of eligible sectors. These are listed below as a reminder:
– CleanTech;
– Eco-innovation and circular economy;
– Space;
– Fintech;
– HealthTech;
– Mobility and logistics;
– Information and Communication Technologies (ICT).
The BPF, its eligibility conditions and evaluation criteria were presented by Thomas Lammar from the Directorate for Cooperation and Humanitarian Action.
Franz Fayot explained the synergies that exist between the Luxembourg Cooperation and companies. The BPF allows developing countries to attract investment, technology and expertise available in Luxembourg. On the other hand, companies have the opportunity to penetrate new and sometimes too risky markets without state intervention, and to establish mutually beneficial partnerships with local actors. “Luxembourg’s cooperation strategy recognises the essential role of the private sector and the resources and innovations it can bring to foster economic development synonymous with inclusive and sustainable growth. Luxembourg therefore facilitates the exploration of opportunities for collaboration to promote job creation, private sector development on the ground and, infinitely, poverty reduction”.
Carlo Thelen, for his part, reiterated the support of the Chamber of Commerce and underlined the excellent collaboration between the Directorate for Cooperation and Humanitarian Action, Lux-Development, the Ministry of Economy and the Chamber of Commerce in the context of BPF.

He congratulated all the partners for having succeeded in maintaining the 2020 edition of the Business Partnership Facility programme, launched on the eve of the first containment, exactly one year ago. “The timetable of actions has been respected to the letter and the 5 selected companies obtained, as planned, their co-financing agreement in November 2020. The continuity of the BPF in the circumstances of the international health crisis we are experiencing is a strong signal of resilience”, the CEO of the Chamber of Commerce welcomed.
The call for applications for the 2021 edition of the BPF is open. Information is available at the following link: www.bpf.lu.

Communiqué from the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, the Directorate for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Action and the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce