Luxembourg opens Ottawa embassy as Canada shifts its attention to Europe [Video]

Luxembourg is officially opening an embassy in Ottawa as the small European nation moves to expand its economy beyond financial services.

The country of 680,000, commonly referred to as a tax haven, is one of Europe’s most sparsely populated nations.

Luxembourg is a major financial hub and Statistics Canada ranks it as the eighth largest source of foreign direct investment in Canada, which does not include other countries’ indirect funding through Luxembourg.

Luxembourg’s Foreign Affairs Minister Xavier Bettel is in Ottawa to officially open the embassy that has been operating since last December, just as Prime Minister Mark Carney seeks deeper trade ties with Europe.

Robert Harmsen, an Edmonton native and a political scientist at the University of Luxembourg, says the country wants to move beyond financial and steel sectors and into cybersecurity and health care.

Harmsen, who was part of the country’s trade mission to Canada in 2022, says …