In an unstable international context, Wallonia must be able to rely on efficient, high-performing economic tools aligned with its priorities. This is the course set by Minister Jeholet for the Walloon Export and Foreign Investment Agency (AWEX), to strengthen our region's international openness and support a more prosperous Wallonia.
On 21 January, Minister Jeholet, together with Mélanie Mestdagt (Chair of the Board) and Pascale Delcomminette (CEO), presented the new roadmap of the Walloon Export and Foreign Investment Agency (AWEX). This roadmap marks an important milestone: it aims to reinvigorate Wallonia's international openness, in order to boost and diversify its economic growth.
The course is clear: turning AWEX into a genuine strategic lever serving the real economy. It is no longer just about supporting businesses' internationalisation, but steering it in a more strategic, targeted and, above all, measurable way.
This new dynamic is built on work carried out with the agency's teams and its board of directors. The aim is to refocus AWEX on its core missions, in order to concretely improve support for Walloon businesses and strengthen the region's international appeal.
In an uncertain global context, Wallonia must assert its strengths. Too often our skills are underestimated, even though they are recognised and sought after well beyond our borders. AWEX's role is precisely to help more companies take that step, at a time when access to new markets is becoming a crucial competitiveness issue.
To ensure greater efficiency and impact, the roadmap rests on three coherent pillars:
- A refocusing of missions in line with Walloon economic priorities;
- Clear and measurable targets to improve performance;
- Better use of existing resources to support more companies in promising markets.
Specifically, AWEX will now focus its action around three main missions:
- Supporting the internationalisation of Walloon businesses;
- Attracting and anchoring foreign investors in Wallonia;
- Strengthening the region's appeal on the international stage.
Export support will be better tailored to companies' level of maturity, so that resources are concentrated where impact is greatest. The foreign investor's journey is also being improved, making AWEX the nerve centre of the investment process. This will make it easier for Walloon businesses to attract essential external capital.
To achieve this, a set of concrete, measurable targets will guide AWEX's operations: growth in Walloon exports over three years higher than that of neighbouring countries and the eurozone; annual support for 250 new companies going international; the implementation of 120 actions per year in priority sectors; and an annual 7% increase in the number of investment files processed.
Finally, decision-makers have equipped the agency with various levers to implement this roadmap. Specifically, the agency will need to concentrate its human and budgetary resources on the highest-impact missions, aim for a 50/50 ratio of staff deployed in Wallonia and abroad, and carry out a rationalisation of regional offices.
A necessary rationalisation, since the agency's resources will not grow in the coming years. Given the current economic context, indexation of the agency's funding will be frozen, but the Minister has assured that its resources will not be reduced until the end of the legislature.
By reorienting AWEX towards greater efficiency, results and economic impact, Minister Pierre-Yves Jeholet confirms the MR's determination to strengthen the real economy, support Walloon businesses and turn internationalisation into a sustainable driver of growth and employment for Wallonia.