Economic mission to London – After Covid and Brexit, four days to renew ties with the United Kingdom

Postponed twice due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the princely economic mission to the United Kingdom, chaired by Princess Astrid, takes off on Monday and must be held until Thursday. A particularly important mission, given that it is the first since the pandemic but also since the official exit of the country from the European Union. It brings together no less than 406 participants.

The program of this mission organized by the Agency for Foreign Trade, the FPS Foreign Affairs and the regional foreign trade agencies (Awex, Hub Brussels and FIT), promises to be very dense, with many meetings and visits planned. The mission will take participants to London, Oxford and Cambridge.

Led by Princess Astrid, the mission will also count on the Federal Minister for Energy Tinne Van der Straeten – who replaces Sophie Wilmès, on leave from her post of Foreign Affairs -, the Walloon Minister for the Economy and Foreign Trade Willy Borsus, the Flemish Minister-President Jan Jambon, the Flemish Minister for the Economy Hilde Crevits and the Brussels State Secretary for Foreign Trade Pascal Smet. 214 companies and organizations, including representatives of the academic world, are on the trip, making this mission “one of the most important ever organized“, according to Foreign Affairs.

This mission is organized while economic relations between Belgium and the United Kingdom are on the decline due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which has slowed down the world economy as confinements and disrupted chains supply. Economic relations are also suffering from Brexit, synonymous with new rules to which companies must adapt. In addition, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has dealt a further blow to the world economy, while strengthening ties between Western allies.

Thus, Belgian exports to the United Kingdom fell last year by 7% compared to 2020, according to figures from the Federal Agency for Foreign Trade. The British region nevertheless still represents a leading partner for Belgium, while the United Kingdom was in 2021, a year of rebound after Covid-19, Belgium’s fifth customer (26 billion euros of Belgian goods exported ) and its eighth supplier (15.5 billion euros of imported British goods). Belgium was the seventh partner of the United Kingdom (4.6% of British exports), and the sixth supplier of the country of Shakespeare (4.9% of British imports).

–