Why an Expo in Liège in 2017?

The City of Liege, the beating heart of Belgium’s third largest conurbation (600,000 inhabitants), is the economic Capital of Wallonia.

Over the past ten years, it has rolled out an ambitious redevelopment strategy. Step by step, the City and the conurbation are undergoing a make-over with the aim of spawning a service economy focusing on centres of excellence.

The policy of ambitious structuring projects, orchestrated by the public authorities and supported by businesses, universities and institutes, is giving the Liege region a new lease of life. While awaiting the arrival of the tram, a scheme initiated by the Walloon Government, several major projects are underway: the Royal Opera of Wallonia, an institution with an international reputation, is being restored; the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art will be transformed into an International Centre of Art and Culture. Not forgetting the recent inaugurations of the new high-speed train station created by the architect Santiago Calatrava, the ‘Mediacité’ leisure complex designed by Ron Aarad, the Grand Curtius museum complex, etc.

The impacts of this strategy are there for all to see : year after year, the City of Liege attracts new inhabitants; it has reclaimed its position as Wallonia’s main tourist destination; Liege airport ranks eighth in Europe for freight transport  (1st in Belgium), the autonomous port of Liege is the biggest Belgian inland port and the 3rd European port in terms of transported tonnage and, what’s more, according to an independent study by Cushman and Wakefield,  the district of Liege is considered as the most attractive region in Europe in logistical terms.

The district is also the seat of world-renowned companies, such as AB InBev, Mittal, Umicore, FN Herstal, Techspace Aero, EVS Broadcast, Amos or Eurogentec… Most of them have prompted the emergence of competence clusters in areas  in which Liege excels: aeronautics, the metalworking industry and mechanics, space, biotechnologies, information technologies, or again, agrifood.

Today, the City wants to build on this positive momentum to organise an event with an international scope that will constitute the crowning achievement of the economic and urban reconversion strategy of the Liege Region.

An Expo perfectly meets this objective.

To conclude, holding an International Expo in Liege in 2017 offers an exceptional opportunity to:

• showcase Belgium’s strengths and success stories in the economic, scientific and cultural arenas;
• put Belgium, its Regions and Communities on the world map for all the right reasons;
• symbolise the success of the industrial and urban reconversion  of the Liege Region.