Province of Liege, Belgium Offers Incentives for Automotive Companies

3 August 1999

    TRAVERSE CITY, Mich., Aug. 3 -- The Province of Liege,
Belgium has announced significant investment incentives for automotive
companies, including an industrial park next to the famous Spa-Francorchamps
Grand Prix track created exclusively for automotive engineering enterprises.
    Jean-Paul Dispas, international relations counselor for Liege's economic
development agency, will be at the University of Michigan's Automotive
Briefing Seminars here on August 2-6 to present information about Liege's
strategic advantages to the leaders of the global auto industry.
    "Liege's commercial history, its multi-lingual and multi-cultural
workforce, its central location in Europe and its favorable social climate
makes it an excellent Choice for successful industries," Mr. Dispas said.  It
is within a 250-mile radius of London, Paris, Amsterdam and Frankfurt, and
centered among more than eight major European auto manufacturers.  Nearly 500
international companies are operating in Liege today, including some 30
automotive enterprises.
    Liege is an especially strategic location for a distribution center, Mr.
Dispas noted.  It has excellent facilities for land, sea, and air
transportation, including Europe's foremost cargo-oriented international
airport, major railways and highways to all European destinations, and a river
port integrating the North Sea with the European rivers network.
    Mr. Dispas will be at the University of Michigan's Automotive Briefing
Seminars at the Grand Traverse Resort and is inviting attendees to visit the
Liege hospitality suite in the Resort for information and souvenir Belgian
products.  Further information is available on the internet at
http://www.liegeonline.be
    "We may be less famous than the more tourist-visited cities of Europe,"
Mr. Dispas declared, "but we can proudly say that Liege is truly a location
'where Europe works.'"