Space. Photo: NASA.

Israel’s Science and Technology Ministry has announced that Jerusalem will host the 2015 International Space Conference.

The conference held by the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) is the world’s largest gathering on space and is expected to include over 3,000 scientists from over 70 countries to discuss the latest innovations and space policies.

The Israeli leaders lobbied the IAF hard to host the conference. They see the conference as an opportunity to showcase Israel’s thriving technology industry.

“Participants will become Israel’s ‘ambassadors’ to the world in the field of space by seeing our advances in the field,” said Israeli Science and Technology Minister Daniel Herschkowitz.