On March 22, a virtual meeting took place between Minister-president Jan Jambon and Scottish cabinet secretary for Constitution, Europe and Foreign Affairs Michael Russell.
Discussions included the approach to the Covid-19 pandemic, the upcoming Scottish elections, COP26 and the Scottish independence referendum.
Brexit was also discussed and more specifically the exit from the Erasmus + programme. Scotland regrets this decision and emphasizes that the government wants to continue academic and higher education cooperation as best as possible. Flanders also attaches great importance to this.
With regard to economic cooperation, both partners indicated that they would like to exchange best practices in the field of economic representation abroad.
Minister-president Jambon indicated that he wants to travel to Scotland as soon as the situation allows it. He emphasized that Flanders attaches great importance to cooperation with autonomous regions. He also referred to the letter of intent drafted by several autonomous regions arguing for greater impact on EU decision-making. The Minister-president reiterated his intention to continue working on this. Cabinet secretary Russell also expressed his interest.
