Archibald Astley-Corbett is a foreign-direct-investment advisor who runs Vessel Global, advising expanding businesses on market access across Europe since 2011. He studied international law at the University of Paris X and works between Brussels, London, Berlin and Prague.
Vessel Global works on market entry, trade and investment attraction, with economic development agencies, regions and cities on one side of the table and corporate investors and funds on the other. That makes his day job the everyday version of what special jurisdictions attempt deliberately: places competing for capital through what they can credibly offer, and investors choosing between them.
He has spent some sixteen years in international business development across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and is based in Berlin, where he is a director of the firm. He speaks at Free Cities events on foreign direct investment and on how a new zone can present itself credibly to the people who would have to underwrite it, which is a narrower audience than the movement usually addresses and a harder one to convince.
VideoLiberty in Our Lifetime 2021