BRUSSELS – President Tharman Shanmugaratnam met top business leaders from various sectors, ranging from pharmaceuticals and offshore engineering to sustainability and finance, at a breakfast dialogue in Brussels on March 26, and had the opportunity to understand their concerns and ways they might invest in Singapore.
Mr Tharman, who is on a state visit to Belgium, was accompanied by Belgium’s King Philippe, and the leaders they met included Mr Benoit Van Den Hove, chief executive of pan-European stock exchange Euronext Brussels, and Ms An Smet, chief operating officer at engineering solutions and construction firm Jan De Nul Group.
The Federation of Belgian Enterprises, which hosted the roundtable at its premises, said in a post on X that they had an opportunity to discuss trade relations, challenges and opportunities.
Also at the meeting were Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat and Minister of State for Home Affairs and Social and Family Development Sun Xueling.
Belgium and Singapore have had extensive trade and investment ties since diplomatic relations were established in October 1966, with more than 400 Belgian companies currently operating in the Republic.
The Belgian community in Singapore, numbering some 1,500, is also the second largest in South-east Asia, said Belgium’s Foreign Ministry in a note on the state visit.
Belgium-Singapore economic ties are undergirded by the broader Free Trade Agreement and Digital Trade Agreement between the European Union and the Republic. The FTA with Singapore was the EU’s first with an Asean country when it came into force in 2019.
Mr Tharman then travelled to the southern region of Wallonia, where he was hosted to lunch by Governor of Walloon Brabant province Gilles Mahieu.
He also visited Universite Catholique De Louvain and the headquarters of medical technology company IBA International, which is developing proton therapy for cancer treatment and has a presence in Singapore.
UC Louvain, which is celebrating its 600th anniversary this year, hosts student exchange programmes with the National University of Singapore, Singapore Management University and Singapore University of Technology and Design. It is part of a vibrant research and innovation ecosystem located in the heart of the Louvain-la-Neuve Science Park in the province of Walloon Brabant.
At the university, Mr Tharman toured SEFY, the university’s plant cultivation facilities where research on plant resistance is carried out.
He is due to travel to Luxembourg for his state visit to the landlocked country from March 27 to 28.
- Clement Tan is an assistant foreign editor at The Straits Times. He helps to oversee coverage of South Asia, the US, Europe, the Middle East and Oceania.
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