Benjamin Haddad, France’s Minister Delegate for European Affairs, spoke to reporters ahead of the summit, which will take place in Paris on September 9-10, 2026. Photo credit: File Photo
Around 2,000 participants from 120 countries, including a high-level delegation from India, are expected to attend the International Space Summit to be held in Paris, France on September 9 and 10.
The summit will focus on four main areas: defense and security, space economics, space regulation, and space and scientific research.
Read also: We fully trust our Indian partners: the French National Space Agency.
Speaking to reporters ahead of the summit, France’s Minister Delegate for European Affairs Benjamin Haddad said organizers were expecting a delegation of about 2,000 participants representing 120 countries.
“This is a major summit that will be organized around four pillars: security and defence; sector competitiveness – the importance of having a private sector, especially during the acceleration period where you see new private players changing the way we think about space; regulation of space activities, issues such as regulation of space debris, for example; and science and research,” Mr. Haddad explained.
He added that the summit would also highlight Europe’s strategic autonomy in space.
“The organization of this summit is in line with the great emphasis we place on developing European strategic autonomy in space. As Europeans, we must ask ourselves: to maintain autonomous access to space. That is why we have invested in European launch vehicle solutions in the last few years,” Mr Haddad said.
“That is why we have had recent announcements from the European Commission, which we welcome, about the first interim deployments of (Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security via Satellites) IRIS², which will be the constellation for secure communications in space in the European Commission,” he added.
The summit is likely to produce three declarations on international security, frequency and space data.
(This reporter is in Paris at the invitation of the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs to cover the International Space Summit.).
Published – September 8, 2026 12:03 pm EST.