The Brussels Region is celebrating its 20th anniversary yesterday. King Albert attneded an academic meeting. Several activities are planned over the coming months.

The Brussels region is officially called Brussels Capital-Region. It should not be confused with the much smaller City of Brussels

The Brussels Capital-Region is one of the three regions of Belgium, alongside the Flemish Region and the Walloon Region.

Geographically and linguistically it is a bilingual (Dutch and French) enclave situated in the Flemish Region (which is unilingual with Dutch as the official language). Although both Dutch and French have official status the region is largely French-speaking.

Brussels is also the capital of both the French Community of Belgium (Communauté Française de Belgique) and of Flanders (Vlaanderen); all Flemish capital institutions are established in Brussels: the Flemish Parliament, Flemish government and its administration.

The Brussels Region was established 20 years ago, almost 10 years after the establishment of the Flemish and Walloon Regions.

During the 1980s, when Flanders and Wallonia had long had their own governments and policies on certain federalised matters, Brussels was still under the competency of the federal government.

On 12 January, 1989 the Brussels Capital-Region was established.

Brussels is also very international

Brussels is also the administrative centre of many international organisations, most notably the European Union (EU) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO).

(flandersnews.be/Expatica)