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Embassies and consular services for Belgium
| Location | Service areas |
|---|---|
| Embassy of Belgium | |
| Mission to the European Union | |
| New Zealand Embassy to Belgium | Belgium, Bulgaria, Luxembourg, Moldova, Romania |
Our relationship with Belgium
As trading nations with an international outlook, Belgium and New Zealand are like-minded on many global issues. 2015 marked the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations. We are also connected by a shared history through New Zealand's role in Belgium in World War I. This involvement has created a legacy of close and warm relationships which continue to this day. We have two Shared Memory Arrangements with Belgium, which promote cooperation in preserving and strengthening our shared history of the two World Wars.
Trade and investment
In July 2023, New Zealand and the EU signed a high-quality, comprehensive, and progressive Free Trade Agreement which entered into force in May 2024. As a European Union member state, Belgium is party to the EU-NZ FTA. The FTA contains world-leading commitments on sustainable and inclusive trade.
New Zealand traditionally enjoys a favourable balance of trade with Belgium. A large proportion of New Zealand's exports to the European Union enter through Belgian ports.
The latest information about New Zealand's trade profile with Belgium is available on the New Zealand Trade Dashboard(external link).
People and culture
New Zealand's participation in World War I is still commemorated with warmth in Belgium, and this lies at the heart of the relationship between our two countries. Between 1917 and 1918, around 5,000 New Zealand servicemen were killed in battles at Belgium’s ‘Flanders Fields’, a huge loss to a country of little over a million people at the time.
New Zealand has two twin towns with Belgium municipalities. Mesen (Messines) is the twin town of Featherston in the Wairarapa. A twinning relationship was established between Waimakariri and Zonnebeke in 2007 during the 90th commemorative year of the Battle of Passchendaele.
A pou maumahara was gifted to the municipality of Zonnebeke by the New Zealand Māori Arts and Crafts Institute, at an Anzac Day ceremony in 2019. The eight-metre tall pou maumahara is a tribute to Māori who served in the First World War, including the New Zealand Māori (Pioneer) Battalion.
Information for young Belgian citizens interested in living and working in New Zealand can be found on Immigration New Zealand’s Belgium Working Holiday Visa(external link) website.
Young New Zealand citizens looking to work/study in Belgium can find more information on the Embassy of Belgium in Australia(external link) website.
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