Following a reorganization, the Belgian Consulate General currently has no official trade adviser in the Atlanta office, but consular staff is still actively assisting Belgian and local companies in the Southeast, Consul General Jan Verbeeck told GlobalAtlanta.
The Atlanta consulate does not currently have a trade officer because Michel Bricteux was reassigned to his country’s Madrid consulate in January. Plans for replacing Mr. Bricteux have not been made. In the commissioner’s absence, however, consular assistant Djazia Filoso is handling trade inquiries, Mr. Verbeck said.
Georgia remains an important location for Belgian business, Mr. Verbeeck asserted. The largest concentration of Belgian investments in the United States is in Georgia, with more than 50 Belgian companies having offices here, he noted.
“The interest [of Belgian companies] in doing business with the U.S. is very high. The relations with the Georgia Department of Economic Development is also excellent,” Mr. Verbeeck said, pointing to Georgia’s economic development office in Brussels and especially the managing director there, Jim Blair.
He added that a couple of weeks ago, Mr. Blair and representatives of the Flanders and Wallonia regions of Belgium organized two seminars about doing business with the U.S. that were “great successes,” with more than 120 participants in Flanders and 60 in Wallonia.
“Promotion of foreign trade and attracting investments to Belgium is a regional matter since 1994,” Mr. Verbeeck said. “The representatives of Flanders and Wallonia will keep fulfilling this task together with their colleagues in the USA specifically in charge of attracting U.S. investments to Belgium,” he added.
The country’s Flemish region still has a trade commission in Atlanta headed by Piet Morisse who handles trade between the Southeast and his region. Questions on investing in the Flemish region may be made to Jan Offner at the Flanders Foreign Investment Office in Dallas.
Trade inquiries about Belgium’s Walloon region can be made to the acting trade commissioner in Houston, Jean-Pierre Muller, and questions about investing in the Walloon region can be handled by Jean-Pierre Vasaune at the Invest Wallonia office in Chicago.
There are about 35 Belgian companies with North American headquarters in Georgia and some 100 Belgian companies in the Southeast. Their products range from pharmaceuticals toplastics, graphic design systems and carpets.
A comprehensive listing of Belgian investments in the U.S. can be found on the new site of the Belgian Embassy in Washington at www.diplobel.us
Contact Mr. Verbeeck’s office at (404) 659-2150.