Program of the Forum
On the occasion of the official visit to the People’s Republic of China by Prime Minister Charles Michel and to celebrate the 45th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Belgium, Michel Malherbe, Ambassador of Belgium and Wu Xiaohui, Chairman of Anbang Insurance Group jointly organized the China-Belgium Economic Forum on Monday 31 October at the Anbang Group Head Office in Beijing.
The Anbang buildings are state of the art and impressive. It was a great setting for a Forum that we can say was very successful.
There was a VIP line-up of speakers:
- Wu Xiaohui, Chairman of Anbang Insurance Group
- Zhong Shan, Vice Minister of Commerce and International Trade
- Lawrence Summers, Former US Secretary of Treasury, Former President of Harvard University and Economist
- H.E. Charles Michel, PM
- Michela Ritondo, Fiscal Department for Foreign Investments, Federal Public Service Finance (Belgium)
- Mattias Debroyer, Consulate General of Belgium in Shanghai
The speeches were followed by a panel discussion, with among others representatives of Huawei and Anbang.
To conclude there was a lively Q&A with PM Michel.
Pictured are, among others, our ambassador Michel Malherbe, Paul Lambert (Consul General Shanghai), Eddy De Cuyper (Counsellor, Customs Attaché at the embassy), and others.
Content of the Forum
We saw some pretty cool videos about Belgium, I checked and all are available on this Belgian website, an excellent overview of our country with well-done short videos:
http://focusonbelgium.be/en
See for example the video of Gent (Ghent), my hometown:
(you need VPN for the direct link, Https://vimeo.com/151404508)
The presentations by the Belgian side were very informative, giving a clear introduction to our country as well as indicating all the advantages of investing and operating there, such as also tax incentives.
As mentioned by China Daily, see:
http://europe.chinadaily.com.cn/business/2016-11/01/content_27235357.htm
Chinese insurer Anbang Insurance Group Co Ltd unveiled a three-year loan program that will offer a total of 10 billion euros ($10.97 billion) to help Chinese startups and smaller companies to do business in Europe. The plan was announced by Anbang chairman Wu Xiaohui at the China-Belgium Economic Forum in Beijing. The loan will be extended through Anbang’s banking subsidiary Bank Nagelmackers in Belgium.
The loan program is part of Anbang’s response to a Chinese government call for greater support for local small business, which have faced growing difficulties in gaining access to capital amid the economic slowdown.
Interview VRT with Gilbert and the media
The previous day I was interviewed by VRT (Stefan Blommaert), near the Belgian Embassy along the Liangma River. See the pics of the interview in the previous post.
Pictured are several screenshots of the VRT TV News, the last group of pictures.
Overall the visit of our Belgian PM received wide media coverage in the Chinese media.
Beste Gilbert, zeer gelukkig te zien dat je dit turbo bezoek kort en bondig, met kleurrijke foto’s en nodige verwijzingen aan jouw ontegensprekelijke grote database van mensen hebt doorgestuurd. Ook een mooie eerbetuiging voor onze lange, harde voorbereidingen. Petje af voor jou en jouw post dus!