Belgian embassies abroad, foreign embassies in Belgium, and other affiliated agencies will soon receive ‘Belgian Defence,’ an 80-page publication showcasing the strengths of Belgium’s defence industry.
The publication aims to highlight Belgium’s best achievements across the nation in the defence and security, and area that has become a strategic priority for many governments - especially since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine - and Belgium is no exception.
“This year, we will allocate 2% of our GDP—the NATO target—to defence spending, raising the annual budget to €12 billion,” Defence Minister Theo Francken notes in the book’s preface.
Belgium aims to leverage this increased budget to boost its defence industry.
The publication's first chapter focuses on how Belgium plans to “enhance national resilience and strategically align with NATO and EU priorities,” emphasising transformations in politics, finance, industry, and operations.
The second chapter profiles 12 key players in the Belgian defence sector, four from each region. It features major companies such as FN and John Cockerill, as well as smaller entities like dotOcean, which specialises in software for autonomous underwater vehicles, and Pitagone, a specialist in security perimeters.
According to co-author Bjarne Thys, the goal is also to showcase the strong complementarities within Belgium’s defence industry.
This complementarity currently manifests itself as an alignment of priorities between Flanders and Wallonia, while Brussels awaits the formation of its new government and policy direction, noted Pierre-Yves Jeholet, Wallonia’s Minister of Economy.
The federal and regional governments aim to reach a cooperation agreement to strengthen the defence industry “by this summer.” An inter-ministerial conference will also address this issue, Walloon Minister-President Adrien Dolimont said, highlighting the need for a more direct relationship between various levels of government.
Additionally, a draft amendment of the decree regulating arms exports is planned for presentation (first reading) in Wallonia this year.
