Belgium is a rather small country, we all know. Some decades ago we still had quite a number of large “real” Belgian companies. With globalization and the openness of the country, many of those are now under foreign control and there are few sizeable companies left that we can call “real Belgian”. Bekaert is one. Barco, Picanol are others – I stop here because it’s getting difficult to know for sure who can still be considered “real Belgian”.
Bekaert with its headquarters in Belgium, is active in 120 countries and employs 16,000 people. They have been active in China in the early eighties and started investing here in 1992. Now they count 15 legal entities in China, representing a total approved investment of over US$ 350 million. For bad for our small country. Their website: www.bekaert.com
On 19 May I had the great pleasure to be invited at the residence of our Belgian Ambassador, Bernard Pierre, for a dinner with Baron Paul Buysse, Chairman of the Board of Bekaert. His CV just looks unreal, the list of titles of all kinds is that long I won’t even try to mention any.

The guest list of the evening was as impressive – how often do you see the ambassadors of the EU, France and Belgium around a small table. Tout le beau monde (excluding myself).
One of those days I feel Belgium still has something to show off.