The Financial Times says so: Wallonia is an ideal region to invest in! It came 16^th in the overall rankings for European regions that are most attractive to investors. The Walloon region is the only Belgian region to have earned a place in this coveted record, published annually by the prestigious financial daily.

In terms of subcategories, the Walloon region came 7^th for FDI strategy, with regards to all other European regions. In the West European Regions category it earned 8^th place overall and 3^rd place in terms of FDI strategy. The Walloon Region also stands out in the Mid-Sized European Regions category, which considers regions with between 1.5 million and 4 million inhabitants. It came in 6^th position in the overall rankings, (9^th for infrastructure and 4^th for FDI strategy).

This is solid recognition for the work achieved by AWEx, (The Walloon Export and Foreign Investment Agency), which highlights Wallonia’s pull factor on a day-to-day basis and also thanks to dozens of annual initiatives. This classification is made on the basis of an independent compilation of data and information on:

·         Economic potential: rate of employment, inflation, R&D, number of projects, patents, growth, etc.

·         Human capital: literacy rate, number of universities, university colleges, (hautes écoles), life expectancy, lifestyle, etc.

·         Actual costs: average salary, house prices, minimum salary, tax system, energy costs, etc.

·         Infrastructure: internet quality, airports, ports, maritime traffic, logistic performance, road quality, rail service quality, etc.

The jury was made up of Douglas Clark (Director – Local connections), Laurent Sansoucy (Director – OCO Global), Barrie David (Senior Research Consultant– Cushman & Wakefield LLP), Michal Kaczmarski (Editor Europe – FDI Magazine), Cathy McReynolds (Senior Investments Analyst– FDI intelligence) and Stuart Miller (Associate – Miller Rosenflack LLP).