Chennai :

The Belgian government on Thursday opened a consulate in the city to expand its relations with India. “Over 160 companies from the country have investments in India. With most of them having a presence in the south, we saw the need to consolidate our presence here,” the Belgian ambassador to India, Pierre Vaesen, said.

Belgium earlier had a trade office in Chennai, which is being converted into a consulate. The consulate was opened as part of the Belgian economic mission to India. Today, bilateral trade between the two counties is worth about $15 billion, with two-thirds coming from the diamond sector. “The mission of this visit is to diversify this to other areas like renewable energy, logistics, pharma and railways,” Vaesen said.

“The main purpose of the consulate is to build bridges between people and societies and expand ties between the countries. There can be collaborations between the countries in innovation, technology, sustainable energy and medicine,” said Jan Van Dessel, director general of bilateral affairs, federal public service, foreign affairs of Belgium. The consulate expects to give about 10,000 visas from the new consulate in Chennai, most of them business visas, he said.

As part of the visit to Chennai, companies from Belgium signed MoUs with five Chennai-based organisations, in the presence of Her Royal Highness Princess Astrid of Belgium. The country has signed 32 agreements with many Indian organisations. Hari Logistics, an importer of logs and timber, signed an MoU with Dedoncker P&G, an exporter of Belgian poplar logs, while Chennai-based auto component maker IM Gears signed one with Herfurth Logistics to cover transport clearance and distribution activities in Belgium.

source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Chennai> Belgium / TNN / November 29th, 2013