Welcoming Businesses

Flanders has a proven track record of welcoming foreign businesses to its region.

Ford came to Flanders in 1922 and began producing the Model T. Today’s Ford plant at Genk is one of the company’s largest worldwide, assembling the Mondeo and Galaxy and the Ford S-MAX (car of the year 2007).

General Motors came to Flanders in 1924 and has manufactured a wide range of Chevrolets and Opels ever since. Today its plant in Antwerp is assembling the Astra five-door and station wagon models as well as the new Astra GTC. The Astra Coupé Cabrio was added to the range in 2006.

Across the sectors, the story is the same:

• In the Life Sciences: Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Schering-Plough, AstraZeneca
• In ICT: British Telecom, Philips, ST Microelectronics
• In Chemicals: BASF, Bayer, Kaneka, Nippon Shokubai
• In Food Products: Heinz, Procter & Gamble, Tropicana
• In Logistics: Caterpillar Logistics, Deutsche Post, NYK

Flanders has a strong and continuing tradition of welcoming foreign businesses, large and small, to its region.