On September 5, 2024, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg celebrated Benelux Day, for the first time, and the 80th anniversary of the Benelux Customs Agreement to mark strong ties between the three countries. It was on this very day eighty years ago in 1944 that these three independent sovereign governments, then in exile, signed the Netherlands–Belgium–Luxembourg Customs Convention in London and decided to stay together closely.
The cooperation was further strengthened in 1958 by signing the Benelux Treaty establishing the Benelux Economic Union. Citing the economic collaboration between the states, the Benelux Union calls itself “a living lab for the European Union.”
