Belgium is a country located in western Europe. 

It is divided into three regions (Brussels-Capital Region, Flanders, and Wallonia) and three primary language groups (Dutch, French, and German). 

Belgium is considered a small, open economy, holding over 11.5 million inhabitants and a GDP per capita of $44,500. 

With English being a widely spoken language, low barriers to market entry and the presence of large international organisations such as the European Union (EU) and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), it is no surprise how deeply involved Belgium is with international trade. 

Its 2019 import flows exceeded $426 billion, with imports primarily coming from the Netherlands, Germany, France, USA, and Ireland.

Chart Showing GDP Growth Compared to rest of world

Belgium is a major importer of raw materials, machinery, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, foodstuffs, oil products and transportation equipment. 

The main imports are refined petroleum (around $33B), cars (around $28B), packaged medicaments (around $24B), crude petroleum (around $24B) and petroleum gas (around $18B). 

The import partners are the Netherlands at around 20%, Germany at around 14%, France at around 10%, the US at around 6%, the UK at 5.5% and Ireland at around 4%.

It has a strategic geographic location, an open economy and is an early adopter of new technologies with an excellent transport network.