Europe's hub

 Meuse-Rhine is European integration in a microcosm. Here, languages change every ten minutes. You can go shopping in the Netherlands, live in Belgium but go to the doctor's in Germany. The advantages of open borders and the single currency are only too obvious. This Euroregion has always seen itself as a natural setting for cross-border contact, cultural and economic exchange.

A population of 55 million - one quarter of the EU's total purchasing power - can be reached within four hours. Wedged in between Brussels and Cologne, Meuse-Rhine really is at the heart of Europe, with key air hub logistics/distribution centres at Brussels, Liège and Cologne airports. It is also at the nexus of high-speed TGV/ICE train links (Brussels, Paris, Frankfurt) and of the major European north-south and east-west highways. The area has water-borne logistical access at Liège and Born too, handling both bulk and container cargoes and providing intermodal functionality.

The Port of Liege, linked with Antwerp and Rotterdam, is Europe's second inland port, in terms of tonnage handled (30 million tonnes annually), following Duisburg and pushing Paris into third place. Maastricht also has an airport.