The ChangeMakers Magazine Council for International Relations & Diplomacy CIRD

The World Trade Centers (WTC) delegation’s participation in the WTCA European Conference 2026 got underway with a series of on-ground visits to World Trade Center Helsingborg, World Trade Center Lund and World Trade Center Malmö, marking the first leg of a packed schedule of engagements across the region.

The visits brought the delegation face-to-face with fellow WTC leaders at each location, opening the floor for candid exchanges on how individual World Trade Centers are approaching international collaboration, trade promotion and business growth in their respective markets. For a network built on connecting businesses across borders, these ground-level conversations are where much of that groundwork actually takes shape — away from the plenary sessions and closer to the day-to-day realities of running a WTC.

Each stop offered its own perspective: Helsingborg’s positioning within the broader Öresund trade corridor, Lund’s ties to research and innovation-driven enterprise, and Malmö’s role as a gateway linking Scandinavian business to wider European and global markets. Taken together, the three visits underscored the diversity within the WTC network — and the common thread of trade facilitation that runs through all of it.

Delegates described the day as a strong opening chapter to the conference, one that reinforced the value of the WTCA’s global network model: local centers with distinct identities and specialisations, connected through a shared platform for cooperation.

With the WTCA European Conference 2026 now in full swing, the visits to Helsingborg, Lund and Malmö set the tone for what promises to be a conference focused on deepening ties across the World Trade Centers network — and translating those connections into tangible trade and investment outcomes in the months ahead.

More coverage of the WTCA European Conference 2026 to follow.