Describing Belgium as the ‘heart of Europe,’ senior representatives from Belgium presented it as a hub for pharmaceutical companies, research and development and the most convenient logistics base serving as a European gateway.

Sharing a logistics perspective at an event hosted in Hyderabad on “Your pharma and life sciences hub in Europe, Belgium,” , Nathan De Valck, Cargo Business and Product Development Manager, Brussels Airport Company, said Belgium is strategically located and with the Brussels Airport and Antwerp Port, it serves a logistic base for both Europe and Africa.”

“Significantly, there is excellent connectivity to Africa that can be very useful for distribution. Belgium provides best of road transport facility, excellent air connectivity and both airport and port logistics,” he said.

He said that the Brussels airport has developed a 26,000 sq. meters of temperature controlled facility useful for pharma companies and more than 25 specialised logsitics service providers operate out of the airport providing one stop service.

Responding to a query on direct connectivity to Brussels from Indian airports, he said that while earlier Jet Airways was operating a direct flight. Soon, there will soon be some update on new flight connectivity to the Brussels airport.

Experts from Belgium fromdifferent sectors see it playing a significant role and serving as a gateway to the Europe post Brexit, which they expect sometime next year after elections in the UK.

Belgium, a home for some of the leading global pharmaceutical companies, where a number of top companies such as Pfizer, Novartis, Alcan, Sanofi have set up their bases, serves as a major research and development centre for them. It also offers facilities for clinical trials.

With some companies specialising in data research and analysis useful for pharma research, DNA analytics ad predictive models, and in areas of Nuclear Medicine sphere, Belgium believes that there is huge potential for collaboration with Indian pharma companies who could make it a hub and gateway for Europe.

Brussels is dubbed the capital of standards for Europe, setting standards and establishing safeguards for the single, biggest market in the world.

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