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Press announcements of the FAIB.
Change of Secretary General at the FAIB - February 2010
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The Power Cities Alliance
PRESS RELEASE
Tuesday 15 March 2011
Under embargo until 15/03/2011 – 18:30
The Power Cities Alliance
A Capital-to-Capital Connection
Brussels and Washington agreed to form an alliance that supports member destinations, where policies are determined that shape global interactions and in which numerous global and regional institutions and associations have established their headquarters. The Alliance will focus on promoting the member destinations to the decision makers and the meeting professionals worldwide.
The Alliance will operate under the name “Power Cities” with the baseline “A Capital-to-Capital Connection”, referring to the member cities status as world capitals for Institutional and association headquarters in the key growth areas in the world.
According to the Union of International Associations (UIA), Brussels is Europe’s meeting capital for international associations. The Brussels-Capital Region is proud of this result and underlines the economic importance this has for the region as a whole. It supports the sector in order to remain highly ranked.
Brussels, the meeting capital of Europe
Brussels is number one in Europe and number two in the world when it comes to hosting the meetings of international associations. And it is the unrivalled top host city for the offices of international associations. So says the Union of International Associations (UIA), an independent research institute that has been observing and documenting international civil society for over one hundred years. And is itself located in Brussels.
It does, of course, depend on what is meant by “international association”. According to the UIA’s Yearbook of International Organizations there are over 3.300 international organizations with offices in Brussels. The UIA’s classification codes help us sort out what is commonly acceptable and gives us (at the moment) 2.197. The same necessity for definition applies to the meetings of associations: according to the UIA’s criteria*, there were 388 such meetings in Brussels in 2009, attended by over 160.000 people coming from around the world.
If these numbers do not sound impressive, consider this: the international associations located in Belgium (80% of them are in Brussels) have a total budget of 1.4 billion euros in Belgium in 2009, and they employed 11.000 people. Add to this the services required by their more than 2.000 offices and it is clear that the total impact of international associations on the economic life of Brussels is substantial.
Brussels hosts more international associations than any other city in the world, whether we’re talking about intergovernmental or non-governmental bodies. However, in the last ten years the number of international association offices in Brussels has scarcely changed, although worldwide there are now 25% more international associations than there were ten years ago.
In addition to that, Brussels hosts more international association meetings than any other European city. In the world, it is second only to Singapore. Ten years ago, Paris was number one in Europe and in the world, while Singapore wasn’t even in the top ten. Brussels has not only been steady in second place worldwide, its growth has been significant: in 2009 it hosted 42% more meetings than it did in 2000.
Why do international associations choose to locate their offices in Brussels? Why do they hold their meetings in Brussels? “The presence of the European Union, NATO, the offices of more than 2.000 international associations, 15.000 lobbyists, more than 1.000 press correspondents, regular summits of the 27 heads of state, as well as the many facilities such as the AISBL status, good universities, hospitals, its central geographical position, the accessibility, the professional services and the presence of the FAIB contribute to the attraction of Brussels.”, says Hervé Bosquet from the Brussels Convention Bureau.
*UIA criteria: minimum 50 participants, 40% foreign, 5 nationalities, 3 days
Sources:
The Union of International Associations
FAIB Survey 2007-2008 – by the Federation of European and International Associations established in Belgium
Not for publication
In attachment
1. The Letter of Alliance which will be signed during the press encounteron Tuesday 15 March @ EMIF
2. The complete list of host cities for meetings of international associations
More information:
Martha Meeze: m.meeze@visitbrussels.be, +32 486 53 31 81
Pierre-Olivier Massart: p.massart@visitbrussels.be, +32 475 53 08 07
The Power Cities Alliance
PRESS RELEASE
Tuesday 15 March 2011
Under embargo until 15/03/2011 – 18:30
The Power Cities Alliance
A Capital-to-Capital Connection
Brussels and Washington agreed to form an alliance that supports member destinations, where policies are determined that shape global interactions and in which numerous global and regional institutions and associations have established their headquarters. The Alliance will focus on promoting the member destinations to the decision makers and the meeting professionals worldwide.
The Alliance will operate under the name “Power Cities” with the baseline “A Capital-to-Capital Connection”, referring to the member cities status as world capitals for Institutional and association headquarters in the key growth areas in the world.
According to the Union of International Associations (UIA), Brussels is Europe’s meeting capital for international associations. The Brussels-Capital Region is proud of this result and underlines the economic importance this has for the region as a whole. It supports the sector in order to remain highly ranked.
Brussels, the meeting capital of Europe
Brussels is number one in Europe and number two in the world when it comes to hosting the meetings of international associations. And it is the unrivalled top host city for the offices of international associations. So says the Union of International Associations (UIA), an independent research institute that has been observing and documenting international civil society for over one hundred years. And is itself located in Brussels.
It does, of course, depend on what is meant by “international association”. According to the UIA’s Yearbook of International Organizations there are over 3.300 international organizations with offices in Brussels. The UIA’s classification codes help us sort out what is commonly acceptable and gives us (at the moment) 2.197. The same necessity for definition applies to the meetings of associations: according to the UIA’s criteria*, there were 388 such meetings in Brussels in 2009, attended by over 160.000 people coming from around the world.
If these numbers do not sound impressive, consider this: the international associations located in Belgium (80% of them are in Brussels) have a total budget of 1.4 billion euros in Belgium in 2009, and they employed 11.000 people. Add to this the services required by their more than 2.000 offices and it is clear that the total impact of international associations on the economic life of Brussels is substantial.
Brussels hosts more international associations than any other city in the world, whether we’re talking about intergovernmental or non-governmental bodies. However, in the last ten years the number of international association offices in Brussels has scarcely changed, although worldwide there are now 25% more international associations than there were ten years ago.
In addition to that, Brussels hosts more international association meetings than any other European city. In the world, it is second only to Singapore. Ten years ago, Paris was number one in Europe and in the world, while Singapore wasn’t even in the top ten. Brussels has not only been steady in second place worldwide, its growth has been significant: in 2009 it hosted 42% more meetings than it did in 2000.
Why do international associations choose to locate their offices in Brussels? Why do they hold their meetings in Brussels? “The presence of the European Union, NATO, the offices of more than 2.000 international associations, 15.000 lobbyists, more than 1.000 press correspondents, regular summits of the 27 heads of state, as well as the many facilities such as the AISBL status, good universities, hospitals, its central geographical position, the accessibility, the professional services and the presence of the FAIB contribute to the attraction of Brussels.”, says Hervé Bosquet from the Brussels Convention Bureau.
*UIA criteria: minimum 50 participants, 40% foreign, 5 nationalities, 3 days
Sources:
The Union of International Associations
FAIB Survey 2007-2008 – by the Federation of European and International Associations established in Belgium
Not for publication
In attachment
1. The Letter of Alliance which will be signed during the press encounteron Tuesday 15 March @ EMIF
2. The complete list of host cities for meetings of international associations
More information:
Martha Meeze: m.meeze@visitbrussels.be, +32 486 53 31 81
Pierre-Olivier Massart: p.massart@visitbrussels.be, +32 475 53 08 07