On 2 July 2020, François Bausch, Deputy Prime Minister of Luxembourg and Minister of Defence, visited the NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA), together with a delegation from the Luxembourg Government.
The visit was a valuable opportunity to brief both established and new members of the Luxembourg Government on NSPA's capabilities and the extent of the successful cooperation between the Agency and its Host Nation.
The Agenda included a brief on NSPA's activities, and in particular its response to the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, the field hospital that the Agency built to increase civilian hospital capacity in Luxembourg in March 2020, and future opportunities for collaboration in the medical field, transport, logistics and warehousing.
The Agency also presented its strategic infrastructure programme, aimed at modernizing and expanding the infrastructure at its site in Capellen. Minister Bausch expressed Luxembourg's support for this ambitious project. Bilateral cooperation projects in the areas of satellite communications, platforms, data centres and cyber defence were also discussed.
This visit reinforced the strong relationship that NSPA has maintained with the Luxembourg authorities for over 60 years.
Luxembourg was a founder member of NATO in 1949 and NSPA's Host Nation since February 1968, when the Agency moved from Chateauroux (France) to the Grand Duchy. Then, The Agency and Luxembourg began the cooperative, collaborative and mutually beneficial relationship that continues today.
The Agency Headquarters were originally sited in Luxembourg City and the operational facilities were established in Capellen, a former Luxembourg Army garrison. In 1987, to enhance coordination and further streamline the increasing level of business activities, the Headquarters was moved to Capellen to co-locate with the operational facilities. Since then, NSPA has grown its workforce to around 1,500 staff, in addition to over 2,500 contractors in NATO's missions across the world. The Agency, which brings together in a single organization acquisition, logistic, medical and infrastructural capabilities including the related procurement function, has seen its business activity rapidly growing, reaching an annual business volume of €4 billion.