Flanders Investment and Trade (FIT), the ‘marketing machine’ of Flemish business and the Ministry of Economy, also looks after and accompanies companies setting up in Flanders. For 2021, FIT can present: A total of 295 foreign companies have settled here, at least with branches. These investments created (or are still creating) more than 6,230 new jobs.
Most of the companies settling in Flanders are American companies. Last year, 64 investments from the USA were registered here, making America the most important investment country in Flanders again.
Companies from Great Britain are in second place with a total of 49 new companies. By setting up branches or new companies here, British companies avoid some of the administrative burden that will result from Britain’s exit from the EU. In addition, Flanders is logistically very well located for the British Isles, because the ports are not far here and neither is the Channel Tunnel in northern France, which is close to the border.
Last year around half of British investment in Flanders was due to Brexit, according to FIT. Since 2016, the year of the Brexit referendum, 95 British companies have said that they have invested in Flanders for precisely this reason, namely to defend and prepare for the consequences of the exit. Since then, these British companies have created more than 3,000 new jobs.
After the Americans and the British, the Netherlands, France and Germany followed in the ranking of foreign investments in the Belgian state of Flanders in 2021 to fill the top 5.
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