Picture this if you will. You are sitting comfortably in your psychiatrist’s chair and thoroughly enjoying the time-honoured technique of random association. Brussels, your therapist calls out. Chocolate you reply. Try again he insists – Brussels! Europe you reply, quick as a flash. One more time now, he insists, confidant that it will be third time lucky. Mussels! That’s it, you announce confidently, its mussels in Brussels. ‘What a pity’ successor to Freud announces – ‘what I had been hoping for was business’. What this? Brussels as a business centre? You bet.

To its critics ECOBRU might well sound like a Belgian beer with an ecological bent – but in fact it is an entirely serious agency with one item on the agenda – to promote Brussels as a national and international business centre. Created in 1997 by the Minister of Economics, the agency is a concrete response to demand from the Belgian capital various economic actors for a single point of contact where businesses can find information and receive all the guidance and support they might require. And the verdict so far – that’s its doing a pretty good job – as the former president of Chrysler Europe, Tim Adams, explains. "With its great openness to different cultures, Belgium and Brussels in particular has turned out to be the right choice for the 15 nationalities which make up our team. The city is big enough to be cosmopolitan – and yet small enough to be eminently liveable."

The challenge facing those at the top of ECOBRU is to get its message across. For even a preliminary glance across the small print reveals that its an attractive message indeed – with the Brussels region able to offer major advantages to foreign investors planning to come up and set up shop in the region. ECOBRU is able to provide prospective businesses with all of the help and guidance they could possibly need – and on an individual basis at that. This includes each and every aspect of the economy likely to be interest to investors – locating a site, securing work and residence permits for staff, obtaining subsidies, advice as to what is likely to constitute the most favourable tax regime – and so on.

Officially recognised as the capital of Europe, Brussels is home to the European Commission, the secretariat of the European Council of Ministers and also hosts a series of sessions of the European Parliament. You might well have known that already – but did you also know that that in turn means that there are some thirty thousand European elected representatives, officials, diplomats, journalists and lobbyists living and working in Brussels either permanently or on a part time basis? All rather attractive from a business point of view.

Currently over 2,000 foreign companies have established themselves in and around the Brussels region. And although this represents an impressive increase of 27% over a four year period, those at the top of ECOBRU are convinced that with their generous system of grants and subsidies these figures are but the beginning of an ever-increasing shift towards Brussels – for international and national businesses alike.

The figures are stacked in the city’s favour: with over 2 million people staying over as participants in congresses and seminars each year, the handsome and historic Belgian capital ranks second only to Paris as a congress centre. Moreover, within a radius of 300 miles from Brussels, over 60% of Europe’s consumers can be reached by one of the most efficient systems of modern transportation in the world.

What might be in it for me? It’s a fair question. Well, small enterprises investing in real estate, equipment and furniture can benefit from financial support. Depending on the sector of activity and the type of business, the maximum incentive aid is 24% of the eligible investment. Whatever the size of the business, however, specific investments may be subsidised if made with any of the following objectives: rational use of energy, water or raw materials, environmental protection, adaptation to standards imposed by the EU.

ECOBRU, to use its own marketing blurb, is the one-stop shop located at the Brussels Regional Development Agency. Its mandate is to guide you through the maze of subsidies and incentives created by the various public authorities for the benefit of businesses. Possibly business such as yours. In fact one brochures lists over 60 measures (financial and tax incentives) available to businesses based in Brussels. These include European, federal and regional incentives for the various each and every aspect of business activity: investment, R & D, staff recruitment and exporting.

Let us allow John Whittaker, General Manager at EuroDAT Services, to conclude. ‘As EuroDAT has completed its incorporation and is installed in offices within the Brussels Capital Region, I would like to thank ECOBRU for the excellent support that we received during the fact-finding, the initial reconnaissance, and our implantation."

So, to tinker just a little with the words of the late, great JFK, do not ask what you can do for Brussels – ask what Brussels can do for you!

Brussels Regional Development Agency

Rue Gabrielle Petit 6

B-1080 Brussels

Tel: + 32 2 422 52 00

Fax: + 32 2 422 5148

Website: http.www.brda.irisnet.be