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Belgium is looking beyond diamonds in bilateral trade with India, according to Philippe De Backer, Minister of Digital Agenda, Telecom and Postal Services, Kingdom of Belgium.
“We see a lot of opportunities for furthering bilateral trade from both sides. Belgium is strong in life sciences, pharma and Information Technology (IT), petrochemicals, digitisation, shipping, among others,’’ the Minister told BusinessLine in an interaction here.
In life sciences, “Belgium has a ‘complete ecosystem’ in place from multinationals to start-ups in addition to many chemical clusters. We are centrally located and gateway to Europe,’’ Backer said.
Referring to T-Hub in Hyderabad and innovation in start-ups, the minister identified Artificial Intelligence (AI) as another area of possible collaboration.
Bilateral trade
The bilateral trade between Belgium and India is now predominantly in diamonds. Belgium-India trade has been pegged at €7.9 billion and diamonds contribute 80 per cent of this. From India, the trade is to the tune of €4.8 billion. The trade related to the services sector is now catching up between the two nations.
Going forward, things are expected to improve at a policy level too. There are elections in May and the new European Commission will be in place soon.
“We have to open up the dialogue and sort out differences if any to further boost economic ties,” he said.
The issue of Brexit, changing geopolitical realities, the growing competition between the US and China in global economy can re-shape future collaborations as well open up new opportunities, he added.
Priorities
On the challenges in furthering economic tie-ups between Belgium and India, Backer said: “Demystifying what is being said about trade ties, a clear commitment from political leadership is vital.’’ There is a ‘real’ need to create a right forum to work for greater collaboration and identify the road blocks to be cleared,’’ he added.
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