The economy

The port of Brussels plays a key role for sustainable development, combining as it does on a daily basis the three pillars of such development in environmental, economic and social terms.

Most of the many small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that have set up business in Brussels and its conurbation have their decision-making centres based there. 
Often long-established in the port, they pursue a resolute investment policy as regards their concessions. These long-term investments serve to guarantee perennial economic activity and added value, as well as stability of the jobs created. The port of Brussels, for its part, has a trade policy designed to foster such long-term investments by adapting the concession periods to the investments made by these businesses. Public investments also have their importance, owing to both their sustained nature and the signal they give to private investors. Public- private partnerships therefore constitute a basis for mutually beneficial sustainable investment.