China looks to strengthen connections with Belgium via Antwerp

Antwerp could be an important staging post in a new Silk Road, according to Chinese president Xi Jinping, speaking last week during a Belgian royal trade mission to China. According to Flemish minister-president Geert Bourgeois, who took part in the mission led by King Filip and Queen Mathilde, China is prepared to build new connections with Europe, the Middle East and Africa. 

The president’s remarks came during a state banquet and concerned the One Belt, One Road programme of economic expansion announced in 2013, which aims to create links between China’s industrial cities and trading centres in other parts of the world. Part of the network involves rail links along the old Silk Road route, as well as sea links with southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean.

During the visit, Belgium submitted an application to join the new Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, which will finance the infrastructure works needed. Bourgeois described the Chinese plans as “fascinating” and drew attention to the importance of re-activating the Iron Rhine – the name given to the old railway connection between Antwerp and the Ruhr region of Germany.

Discussions about reviving the line have been going on between Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany for years without result.

Meanwhile, the Port of Antwerp and Shanghai Maritime University put the finishing touches to a co-operation agreement with the signing of the document by port CEO Eddy Bruyninckx and university president Huang Youfang. Under the agreement, four Master’s students from Shanghai will receive the Port of Antwerp Maritime Award each year for a thesis on the development of port activities in connection with Antwerp.

“As a port, we invest not only in good commercial relations but also find it equally worthwhile to support future generations,” Bruyninckx said.

In other news from the mission, Brussels-based chocolatier Pierre Marcolini will open his first shop in China next year, after an agreement signed with the Chinese investor EverYI Capital. The products on sale will be made in Marcolini’s workshops in Brussels, which employ 60 people.

The Belgian customs and excise authorities, meanwhile, signed a declaration of intent with the Chinese investment company Xuanshu International and the Port of Zeebrugge to create the China Gateway: Zeebrugge Trade Zone, which will see the West Flanders port become an important port of entry to Europe for Chinese goods.

Photo caption: Flemish minister-president Geert Bourgeois pictured before a lunch with Chinese Investors in Beijing last week
©Yorick Jansens/BELGA