Her Royal Highness Princess Astrid, the official representative (and younger sister) of Belgian King Philippe, is headlining a mission to Atlanta that has been billed as the largest delegation at least since the 1996 Olympics. Photo: Royal Palace, Belgium

Details of the programming around the delegation led by Her Royal Highness Princess Astrid of Belgium to Atlanta June 5-6 continued to trickle out this week, revealing a packed agenda covering a staggering array of industries over just two days.  

Organizers — namely the Belgian consulates that have liaised with on-the-ground partners in the host cities of Atlanta, New York and Boston — hope the visit will be a generational touchstone, setting off a flurry of followup investment activity in the coming months and years. 

“I’m expecting most of the companies that will be here this week will be back in the near future,” Consul General Michel Gerebtzoff said during a virtual news conference this week.  

He noted, however, that there will be ample opportunities for formalizing agreements during the trip itself, with hundreds of business-to-business meetings taking place on the sidelines of the formal program. About 10 signings are planned, though many of the tie-ups being formalized couldn’t yet be released. 

To aid Global Atlanta readers in engaging with four government ministers, more than 270 Belgian companies and 541 individuals slated to descend on the city in what has been billed as the largest foreign delegation since the Olympics, Global Atlanta has put together a timeline of the events to be held in Atlanta — some accessible to the public, others limited to invited guests and participating delegates only.  

Many of the individual events have been listed already on the Global Atlanta calendar, but given that each is a self-contained endeavor with specific local partner, the program and registration links have been challenging to access all in one place. (This is not to detract from the very detailed public program that the Belgian Foreign Trade Agency has made available on its website — and is embedded below).  

Below is our best attempt to highlight parts of the itinerary with public or company engagements or accessible registration links, denoting when the princess will be present and if signups are still open.  

SUNDAY, JUNE 5

10 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.
Visit and facility tour at Manus Bio facility in Augusta, Ga.
  • Public? No, only open to up to 40 Belgian academics and biotech companies
2:40 p.m. – 4:10 p.m
Princess Astrid inaugurates Solvay’s New Applications Development Laboratory and observes its 3D printing technology for specialty materials 
  • Host: Solvay Alpharetta
  • Speaker highlights: Solvay executives; Brussels Secretary of State Pascal Smet; Federal Minister in charge of Foreign Trade David Clarinval
  • Public? No

MONDAY, JUNE 6

7 a.m. – 9:30 a.m.
Breakfast Debate: Belgium and the U.S., a Sustainable Partnership: Business

  • Environment outlook, Challenges and Opportunities
  • Host: Belgian-American Chamber of the South (BACoS)
  • Location: Four Seasons Hotel
  • Speaker highlights: Didier Beauvois, Head of Corporate Banking and Member of the
  • Executive Board of BNP Paribas Fortis; Jeroen Cooreman, director-general for bilateral affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Belgium; Paul De Cock, President of Flooring North America Mohawk Industries, Xavier Vanneste, Managing Director Brouwerij De Halve Maan, Stéphanie Rutten, CEO AmCham Belgium
  • Public? No

8:30 a.m. – 10 a.m.
Breakfast Panel on Cybersecurity and Privacy

  • Host: Flanders Investment & Trade
  • Location: McDermott Will & Emery LLP, 1180 Peachtree St. NE,  Suite 3350
  • Speaker highlights: Executives from Atlanta’s Fleetcor and Focus Brands LLC; Bleigan cybersecurity companies SECUTEC and Toreon
  • Public? Yes, but registration listed as “unavailable” 

9:30 a.m. – 11 a.m.
The Critical Function of Supply Chain Optimization and Innovation

  • Host: Flanders Investment & Trade
  • Location: OMP USA offices; 2727 Paces Ferry Rd SE, Building 1, Suite 1750 Atlanta, GA 30339
  • Speaker highlights: Jan Jambon, Minister-President of the Government of Flanders; OMP executives, representatives from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and the Port of Antwerp 

9:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
Princess Astrid and Belgian Business Leaders To Visit UCB U.S. Headquarters in Smyrna

  • Host/Location: UCB, Building 2050, 1950 Lake Park Drive SE, Smyrna, GA 30080
  • Speaker/event highlights: Princess Astrid; Minister Willy Borsus, Vice-President of the Wallonia Region of Belgium; UCB VP for Corporate Affairs Patty Fritz and Emmanuel Caeymaex, Executive Vice President, Immunology Solutions & Head of U.S.; ribbon-cutting and facility tour
  • Public? Invitation only

10:30 a.m. – 11:45 a.m.
Business and Human Rights: The Business Case for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

  • Host: Metro Atlanta Chamber
  • Location: National Center for Civil and Human Rights
  • Speaker highlights: MAC CEO Katie Kirkpatrick keynotes, followed by a panel discussion with Geri Thomas, Bank of America’s chief diversity officer, Pieter Timmermans, CEO of the Federation of Enterprises in Belgium; Willie Sullivan, Managing Director of John R. Lewis Racial Justice Case Competition, Emory Goizueta Business School and Michael Baptiste, MAC’s Vice President of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
  • Public? No

11:50 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.
Global Perspectives on Women in Entrepreneurship

  • Host: Atlanta Mayor’s Office of International Affairs
  • Location: National Center for Civil and Human Rights
  • Speaker highlights: Fireside chat with Ilham Kadri, CEO, Solvay; panel of local female entrepreneurs
  • Registration details: 60 slots available. Registration still open as of June 3 at 5 p.m. Sign up here

12 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.
Investment Lunch: Belgium, Your Access to the EU Single Market

  • Host: Metro Atlanta Chamber
  • Speaker highlights: Speech by David Clarinval, federal minister in charge of foreign trade; testimonials by Michael Goltzman, global Vice President of public affairs, Coca-Cola Co.; and Michael Dubose, president of Healthcare Market Division, Thermo Fisher Co.
  • Public? No, upon invitation only.

1 pm. – 3 p.m.
The Race Towards Artificial Intelligence: US-EU Partnerships

  • Host: Georgia Tech
  • Location: Georgia Tech Research Institute: Conference Center — 250 14th Street Northwest, Atlanta, GA 30318
  • Speaker highlights: Princess Astrid, Georgia Tech President Angel Cabrera; Dean of Computing Charles Isbell Jr. and representatives from Google, Ghent University, Nvidia and Microsoft
  • Public? Yes, with new registration slots opened up here due to high demand. 

2:30 – 5:10 p.m.
Fintech event: New trends and Innovative Solutions in Digital Payments & Regtech: Europe and the USA

  • Host: hub.brussels, Fintech Belgium, Fintech Atlanta
  • Location: Alston + Bird LLP, One Atlantic Center
  • Speaker highlights: Toon Vanagt, CEO, Data.be; Guillaume Blauwart, Alter Domus; Ali Raza, director of payments, cards and fintech at Protiviti in Atlanta
  • Public? No, upon invitation only.

3 p.m. – 5:10 p.m.
Spotlight on the Belgian Media & Entertainment Sector: Video Games — Tour of Georgia State University’s Creative Media Industries Institute and Focus on Female Gamers

Host: GSU

  • Speaker highlights: Georgia State University President Brian Blake; David Verbruggen, General Manager of Flemish Games Association, or FLEGA; Brennen Dicker, Executive Director CMII. Includes signing ceremony and Esports tournament
  • Public? No

6 p.m.
Walking Dinner With a Southern Touch

  • Host: Belgian-American Chamber of Commerce of the South (BACoS), with hospitality sponsor Georgia Economic Development and main sponsors UCB, Solvay, Mohawk Industries and South Carolina Department of Commerce. Beer sponsor is Halfway Crooks and wine sponsor is medici international.
  • Location: King & Spalding Rooftop
  • Speaker highlights: Princess Astrid, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp; Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta CEO Raphael Bostic; Jeffrey Lorberbaum, CEO of Mohawk Industries
  • Public? No, by invitation only; registration closed
—

Further resources: 

Main industries: 

  • Cleantech, energy and renewable energy
  • Life sciences, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals
  • Infrastructure, transport and logistics
  • Artificial intelligence and digital technology
  • Agri-food
  • Smart economy: digital economy, fintech and smart cities
  • Climate technology

FULL PROGRAM: 

Belgian-Economic-Mission-USA_Program updated on 03.06.2022

As managing editor of Global Atlanta, Trevor has spent 15+ years reporting on Atlanta’s ties with the world. An avid traveler, he has undertaken trips to 30+ countries to uncover stories on the perils...