Brussels International publishes its Annual Report

The year 2023 will have been marked by a number of ambitious achievements: strengthening the capacities of partner regions in the field of urban resilience, promoting global citizenship and solidarity within the BCR, taking part in the State Visits to South Africa and Germany, as well as the Brussels Days in Madrid and Barcelona, and so on.

At the multilateral level, Brussels International (BI) coordinated the organisation of the Brussels Urban Summit, a unique gathering of 322 cities and three influential networks committed to strengthening their collaboration to amplify the voice of cities.

2024 will be more European than ever! From January to June 2024, Belgium  will hold the Presidency of the Council of the European Union. All the Belgian players have been actively preparing for this for almost two years, but 2023 has been a particularly busy year.  The BCR has been fully involved in this preparatory process, and in particular in the task force coordinated by the Federal Public Service of Foreign Affairs. At the same time, the Europe Directorate has set up a task force to ensure proper coordination and transmission of information between the Brussels organisations.

2023 was also marked by the creation of the Europe Directorate, the result of the merger of the BCR Delegation to the European Union (EU) and the European Affairs unit of Brussels International, renamed the European Coordination unit. This decision will strengthen synergies and the coordination of European affairs, from negotiation to implementation.

The ERDF Department continued to implement the 2021-2027 programme over the past year. The year was marked by the adoption of the programme by the European Commission, the launch of a series of calls for applications and the selection of the first 31 projects.