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Consular Conversations: Belgium
March 12, 2025
Miller & Martin
Belgians blend in, says Consul General Katherine Raeymaekers. And while it’s good as an expat to make friends and integrate with your host country, that can also lead to your home being under-appreciated.
“We do the job, we’re concise, and we are appreciated for that. But then people don’t know we’re world leaders,” Ms. Raeymaekers said during a Consular Conversation at Miller & Martin PLLC.
The new consul general, who arrived last August, wants to change that and is working to call attention to Belgium’s world-leading position in industries like petrochemicals, vaccines and more, both on social media and in the broader community.
Belgian firms have paid dividends for Georgia for more than 50 years, as consistent investment since the consulate’s launch in 1972 has made it the top state for Belgian investment in the country — unbeknownst to many.
Momentum has further grown in recent years as Georgia has played host to major Belgian delegations including those led by Princess Astrid (2023) and Agoria (2024), a massive tech-industry association. Delta Air Lines will cash in on the transatlantic traffic as it (re-)launches a thrice-weekly nonstop flight from Atlanta to Brussels in June that Ms. Raeymaekers encouraged the community to support.
In conversation with Global Atlanta’s Trevor Williams, the consul general shared her journey to diplomacy, reflected on her prior four years in Morocco, defended Europe’s support of Ukraine and growing defense spending, and discussed how U.S. tariffs and general trade uncertainty could delay Belgian (and broader European) investments into her 10-state region in the U.S.
She also talked about her evolution as a student of language after being a halfhearted learner as a child. It only took an exchange program to Argentina to open her world up. Now she has reached fluency in six languages, with “notions” of Bulgarian, Hungarian and Portuguese thanks to prior diplomatic postings.
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Trevor Williams,
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Katherine Raeymaekers,
Consul General of Belgium in Atlanta
As of August 1, 2024, Mrs. Katherine Raeymaekers has been appointed as Consul-General at the Belgian General Consulate in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, covering 10 states in the South-East.
After joining the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2008, as a career diplomat, she has served as Deputy Head of Mission at the Belgian Embassy in Sofia, Bulgaria (2009-2013) and in Budapest, Hungary (2013-2017). Prior to the USA she served as Political and Economic Counsellor at the Belgian Embassy in Rabat (2020-2024).
Between 2017 and 2020, she served as counsellor at the Department for European
Coordination within the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, responsible for matters related to transport, telecom/digital and energy/green deal.
She holds a Master degree in Political Sciences – International Relations from the University of Ghent (2000), Belgium, and followed post-graduates courses in Regional cooperation – Mercosur at the University of Buenos Aires in Argentina
(2001-2003).
She is fluent in 6 languages: Dutch, French, English, Spanish, Italian and German. She also has some notions of Bulgarian and Hungarian. Beyond her professional pursuits, Mme Raeymaekers likes to explore nature and the surroundings while hiking or biking.
“Having these large missions not only helps us, Belgium companies, get their feet on the ground here, but hopefully it also helps to bring knowledge about the brand Belgium.” -On Princess Astrid and Agoria delegations in 2023-24
“We generally blend in, and we try to adapt to the situation, which generally means that we’re not well-known, because people don’t think of us as Belgian; they think as of one of one of the guys … We use the beer and chocolates to lure people into events that we do, but we have innovative companies, and I think this is something people don’t know.” –On telling Belgium’s story better in the South
“There’s definitely a high potential. But the only way we can convince Delta, which is obviously a business, is that sufficient people fly, so I encourage you all to take the flight as of June to show that is an interesting flight and we can make it year-round again. I think it’s very important, also with the World Cup upcoming, to get all our fans back and forth safely and directly.” –On persuading Delta to make the June 10 Brussels flight a year-round offering
Katherine Raeymaekers on the war in ukraine, in a line that won applause from the audience
“For us, it’s clear there is an aggressor, that’s Russia, and there is a victim, which, in this case, is Ukraine.”
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