About us

BelExpo is responsible for taking Belgium into the international arena. Expos are outstanding opportunities to make Belgium's voice heard and a chance to demonstrate Belgium's strengths in front of millions of participants.

Some facts

BelExpo, or the "Belgian Commission General for International Exhibitions", coordinates and organizes Belgium's participation in international exhibitions at federal, regional and community level since 2017. The Commissioner General, Patrick Vercauteren Drubbel and the Deputy Commissioner General Aldwin Dekkers manage this self-accounting administrative service, with a small but endlessly motivated team. You will find the offices of the General Commissariat in the FPS Economy in Brussels.

Every expo has a theme. The 2015 world exhibition in Milan focused on the fundamental issue of food. In the Belgian pavilion, which won an award for "Building design and materials", participants discovered the latest developments in aquaponics.
Belgium will soon distinguish itself again at Expo 2020 Dubai, the upcoming World Expo in the United Arab Emirates.

Our main objective  

BelExpo wants to demonstrate a green and smart Belgium and show that Belgium is a pioneering nation with a large platform for opportunities that is open to the world. Dedicated to soft mobility and based on the emergence of green, dense and connected cities, our Belgian Pavilion named "The Green Ark" wants to exhibit Belgian industrial, technological and scientific know-how internationally. Initiated by a powerful gesture, this arched monolith, sober and elegant, reflects our "belgitude", a clever mix between Latin romanticism in the field of art and Anglo-Saxon technical rigor in the technical branches.

The Belgian Pavilion in Dubai

"Connecting Minds, Creating the Future" is the theme of Expo 2020 Dubai and is central to the project of the BEMOB 2020 consortium appointed by BelExpo for the design and construction of the Belgian Pavilion. The sub-themes are: opportunity, mobility and sustainability. Belgian international contractors BESIX and Vanhout, with a strong ten-year local presence in the UAE, fit a principle of reality into the conception of this project. To translate this collaborative philosophy, the Belgian architects ASSAR ARCHITECTS and Vincent Callebaut Architectures wanted to join forces to design an aesthetic and functional pavilion. These partners work together to optimize the Belgian Pavilion. BelExpo works closely with the Belgian Buildings Agency as well.

The pavilion has a gross area of ​​1500 m², on a terrain of approximately 2,200 m². It is located in the mobility district and will be able to welcome around 15,000 visitors a day. The leitmotif of the Belgian Pavilion "The Green Ark" is to catalyze architecture, structure, energy, landscape and scenography as if the entire project had been drawn with a single pen line.

Events and interesting dates

BelExpo will organize a large number of workshops, seminars, conferences and networking events in the various spaces of the Pavilion. Partners from the Belgian public sector, the official authorities and representatives from the private sector will be hosting these events.

The Belgian national day is on February 5, 2021. On this day Belgium will be put in the spotlight by Expo 2020 Dubai. The program in the Belgian Pavilion will be particularly interesting.

The Brussels, Walloon and Flemish governments will each organize a week long activity program that reflects their own identity. The Brussels-Capital Region is highlighted from 6 to 12 December 2020, the Flemish Region from 13 to 19 December and the Walloon Region from 24 to 30 January 2021. All of these events involve celebrities, star chefs from world-famous restaurants and different cultural players.

We make history

The "Bureau International des Expositions" (BIE) in Paris supervises and regulates the different types of expo (universal, horticultural and specialized). Belgium is a Member State of the Bureau and was in fact already a signatory of the 1928 "Convention relating to international exhibitions" which led to where we are today. 

More information: Bureau International des Expositions