- Belgium/Wallonia: according to a study by Office for Foreign Investors (OFI), a Walloon organisation whose objective is to attract foreign investment to Wallonia, the first five months in 2004 demonstrated encouraging signs of investor interest in the south of Belgium. 29 new projects were registered in this period representing almost EUR 259 million in investment, with 884 jobs to be created. 19 projects involved the creation of new start-ups (a total of EUR 103 million for 364 new jobs). The ten other projects involve extensions to current activities (EUR 156 million for 520 jobs). In 2003, the most popular sectors were subcontracting in the mechanical subcontracting (information and communication technology) and to a lesser extent, the building industry. The OFI also indicated that the period from 1 January 2000- to the end of May 2004 saw 338 foreign companies investing in Wallonia: 63% European, 24% from the USA or Canada and 13% from other continents. Asia is still not as yet represented but China could play an interesting role in the future. The OFI also illustrates that foreign investor satisfaction indicators (in the order denoting the least significance): global economic dimension (access to markets, industrial fabric, investment conditions, synergy with local partners, access to R&D programmes, financial incentives), geographical situation, infrastructure and transport, quality and availability of labour, quality of life, aid and subsidies, quality contact between public authorities, use of French language. On the other hand, they would like to see improvements regarding the economic dimension (high tax levels is not appreciated) more transparency and facility in the administrative process of documents, cheaper labour and more flexibility regarding working hours etc.