IAAS Belgium invited the directors and members of the national IAAS boards from all European countries for the European Directors Meeting (EDM) which took place from March 2nd to 7th, 2026. Several national and local committees, including the IAAS Ghent and IAAS Louvain-La-Neuve, acted together as hosts and were thus able to show the participants the many facets of Belgium.
I as an IAAS member had the great honor of accompanying the national director of IAAS Switzerland, Kuei-Jr Liao. This cultural exchange has been a huge experience and I got to know so many sympathetic and social people which I enjoyed a lot.
The week started with a traditional Belgium dinner called Stoemp met worst, a dish consisting of mashed potato with sausage. On the next day, every country presented their annual report to each other and a broad brain-storming session took place, at which the introduction of an IAAS book club was discussed, among other things. Later, the group went to experience the student life at the University of Ghent.
On the next day, the group visited the banana gene banks at the International Musa Germplasm Transit Centre (ITC) at KU Leuven to explore the latest banana conservation projects and researches. After the visiting was the famous trade-fair where all the participants had the chance to taste traditional food from all the attending countries.
The week continued with a visit to the Belgian capital Bruxsel, culinarily supplied with delicious French fries. The participants had the chance to visit the European Parliament, the place where far-reaching decisions for European agriculture are made.
The next morning, the ED meeting was moved to their next accommodation in Dinant, a pretty town where the inventor of the saxophone was born. Finally, the group visited a solidary farm that was run by courageous cross-seers.
The week ended with a visit of the beautiful city Namur, a Medium-sized city in the French part, the south of Belgium. The farewell was difficult, but the IAAS members were looking forward to seeing each other again soon at another event.
(Written by Kai, a member of IAAS Switzerland)
