Welcome to the website of the Flemish Representation in the UK

I’m delighted to welcome you to the website of the Representation of the Flemish Government in the United Kingdom.

Since 2002 the Flemish Government has had a Representative Office in the UK, based in Flanders House, located on Cavendish Square. Flanders House is also home to our colleagues of Flanders Investment and Trade and Tourism Flanders.

Flanders House is part of the Belgian Embassy and our role is to promote Flanders in the UK. As a constituent part within the Belgian federation, Flanders has lots of responsibilities. Education, culture, research, economic development, trade, tourism, sports, media, agriculture, housing, infrastructure and mobility, spatial planning, environmental and social policies, are some of these devolved powers.

Strong historical links between Britain and Flanders have evolved into a wide range of similarities and shared interests and we work together as neighbours. There is a large Flemish community in London and in the UK. Britain is Flanders’ fourth largest export and import market. And the number of British tourists visiting our historical cities or Flanders Fields rank second. Furthermore the Flemish government has adopted a Strategy paper on the relations with the United Kingdom. So we've got a lot going for our relationship at all levels and it's a privilege for me to represent Flanders here. I took up my post in London in September 2008 and am tremendously enjoying getting to know this country and, most importantly, the people in it.

I hope this website will give you a flavour of all the varied work we do here in the UK as well as answer some of the questions and queries you have about Flanders. I hope also that you will find the news and events we record here interesting. In the meantime if there is information you would like to see but is not here, let us know and we will try to include it as quickly as possible. Any other feedback is always welcome.

Geert DE PROOST
Representative of the Flemish Government in the United Kingdom