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Dear Readers,
Our country, with its open and stable economy and international vocation, continues to be a
safe place for developing commercial activities and an ideal place to live. So here are some
highlights about food, fashion and technologies in Belgium. You will for example hear about the
most recent creation by the University of Liège and understand why Brussels is an exciting art
city. You will also discover which Belgian companies were present at BITEC Bangkok and the
recent moves made by major Asian companies in Belgium. You will also see for yourself how
innovative Solvay and other Belgian companies can be.
Enjoy the reading,
Marc Michielsen
Ambassador
Economic news
April-May 2016
The Embassy of
Belgium
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A CHOCOLATE FEAST
At center: Ambassador Marc Michielsen
From 27th April to 1st May, Central World shopping mall hosted “Chocoholic’s Party 2016”, a
great event for chocolates lovers. Various brands of chocolates importers and suppliers as well
as great pastry chefs were there to present their products and share their knowledge with the
media and the public. A great chocolate sculpture contest was also organized. The Embassy of
Belgium was of course on the spot to rejoice with the Thai customers and tell them more about
the Belgian addiction for chocolate and Belgium’s great chocolates makers.
www.facebook.com/chocolicparty
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LE PAIN QUOTIDIEN HAS OPENED ITS FIRST RESTAURANT IN HONG KONG
Belgian bakery “Le Pain Quotidien” opened its first branch in Hong Kong in March 2016. The
company is already present in 18 countries with more than 235 restaurants and the restaurant
in Hong Kong will be the third branch in Asia, after India and Japan. Le Pain Quotidien has a
simple recipe: good food, shared in good company at a communal table. The bakery is
collaborating with the ‘Dining Concepts’ Restaurant Group to enter the Asian market. Its aim is
to establish different branches around Hong Kong, the first being located in the brand new
Avenue Complex in Wan Chai. Another will follow in the second half of this year.
Le Pain Quotidien’s philosophy is embodied in the many large tables in its restaurants and the
simple, delicious food it serves for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It uses as many organic
ingredients as possible, and its menu includes soups, salads, unique sandwiches, homemade
biscuits and artisanal bread.
www.lepainquotidien.be/en/
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VISIT FLANDERS IN BANGKOK
At center: Nico Peeters (Regional Manager Asia), Peter De Wilde (CEO), Nicolas Nihon (Embassy of Belgium)
On 24th and 25th of April, VISIT FLANDERS, the Flemish Tourism Agency, organized a regional
meeting in Bangkok. CEO Peter De Wilde and his team came from Brussels to exchange views
on the agency strategy for the years to come with all its representatives in Asia (China, India,
Japan and South East-Asia). It was also a good opportunity to promote Flanders and Brussels as
great destinations to travel agencies and the media in Thailand as well as a nice networking
evening for all.
www.visitflanders-asia.com
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ANTHONY VACCARELLO TO LEAD SAINT LAURENT
The 33-year old Belgian fashion designer Anthony Vaccarello has been appointed as creative
director of the French fashion label Saint Laurent, founded in 1962 by the French designer Yves
Saint Laurent. He succeeds Hedi Slimane. Vaccarello no longer works for Versus Versace, where
he had been creative director since 2015. Anthony Vaccarello studied at the Brussels Art School
Ecole de La Cambre and won the top fashion prize at the Hyères Festival in 2006 and the
ANDAM Fashion Award in 2011. He worked also for Fendi before launching his own label
'Anthony Vaccarello' in 2009. The designer is known for his tight-fitting and sexy creations. His
first collection for Saint Laurent will be for Spring/Summer 2017, which will be presented in
Paris in October. "I am very happy that Anthony Vacarello is taking over the creative
department of Yves Saint Laurent", says CEO Francesca Belletini. "His modern, pure aesthetics is
perfect for the label. In his silhouettes, Anthony Vaccarello strikes a perfect balance between
provocative femininity and sharp masculinity. His style captures the essence of Yves Saint
Laurent perfectly."
Vaccarello is not the first Belgian to be at the helm of a prestigious fashion label. From 2012 to
2015, Raf Simons was creative director at Dior.
www.vogue.com/13384391/anthony-vaccarello-lands-saint-laurent-gig
www.lacambremode.com
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PORT OF ANTWERP PARTNERS WITH ICBC BANK (CHINA)
The Port of Antwerp recently signed an agreement with the Industrial and Commercial Bank of
China (ICBC). ICBC is considered as the largest bank in the world by market capitalization and by
total assets ($278.3 billion). It is one of the “big four” state-owned banks of China. Together,
they will look for new opportunities that fit ‘One Belt One Road’, a strategic plan launched by
the Chinese government. With that plan China aims to better connect its main industrial cities
with centers of commerce around the world. As such, Antwerp was designated as a strategic
hub, mainly because of the Port of Antwerp’s investment opportunities as a leverage for further
collaboration. ICBC will introduce the Port of Antwerp to Chinese investors and will promote
the Port’s business activities among its customers. With this new agreement ICBC hopes to
make new clients: Chinese individual customers, companies that do business in China, Belgian
banks seeking Chinese investment and Belgian individuals eager to invest directly in China.
www.portofantwerp.com/en
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OUFTI : A GREAT CONCEPT FOR A MINI-SATELLITE
On 25 April, a rocket took off from Kourou, French Guyana (South America). It carried a nano-
satellite named “Oufti-1” (Orbital Utility For Telecommunication Innovations), built by the
University of Liège (ULg) and its students. Oufti-1 was created at the Spatial Center of Liège,
famous for its construction of satellites, and will be the first satellite registered and entirely
designed and built in Belgium under Belgian management. The Oufti project, selected last July
by the European Space Agency (ESA), was primarily an educational adventure that mobilized
about fifty engineering students from the University of Liege and other city’s High Schools, such
as Gramme and ISIL. Oufti-1, which will not be used for commercial purposes, will have two
main functions. Firstly the satellite which is equipped with the D-STAR digital technology will
test a new digital communication protocol in order to improve the quality of signals. Secondly it
will test new solar cells of high efficiency.
“Oufti” does not only stand for “Orbital Utility For Telecommunication Innovations” but is also a
local Belgian expression used to convey surprise and astonishment. It shows that people from
Liège are not only skilled engineers but also have a great sense of humor.
http://events.ulg.ac.be/oufti-1/en
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ART BRUSSELS 2016
Art Brussels is a contemporary art fair which takes place every year. Created in 1968, it is one of
the oldest art fair of Europe. Last April, under the motto ‘From Discovery to Rediscovery’, the
fair welcomed artists from 28 different countries at Tour & Taxis, a turn of the 20th
century
beautiful industrial customs house. Placing quality before quantity, the fair this year limited
itself to 140 galleries, divided into three sections: “Discovery” where the focus was on young,
emerging and less known artists; “Prime” gathering established artists from modern to
contemporary, and the “Rediscovery” section dedicated to art from 1917 to 1987, showcasing
underestimated or forgotten artists.
Brussels is becoming more and more important on the art market. Brussels may be less
glamorous than Paris and more buttoned-up than Berlin but that’s exactly why the Belgian
capital has emerged as an implausible artistic hub. Belgium has one of the highest numbers of
art collectors per capita in the world and though they are less flashy than other art-world
players, they are smart and very considered in their aesthetic pursuits. While cheap real estate
and a central location may have lured the artists here, it is the local collector base that is fueling
the scene.
www.artbrussels.com
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BELGIAN COMPANIES MEET AGAIN AT BITEC
During the Animal Feed & Grain Processing Fair (29-31 March), the Bangkok International Trade
& Exhibition Centre (BITEC) welcomed various Belgian companies. These innovative companies
were Actemium, Adifo NV, Huvepharma NV, Nuscience, Silo Construction & Engineering, VIGAN
Engineering S.A. and VYNCKE N.V., all related to the food or animal feeding industry:
• Actemium provides expertise on production processes and research methods as well as
infrastructure. It is active in segments such as food, beverages, chemicals, and gas. www.actemium.be/en/home-2/
• Adifo NV specializes in the development of food industry-specific software tools for
recipe management, quality data management, trading, and cloud services. Adifo NV
supports food businesses in creating innovative products, and in managing ingredients,
recipes and products specs, in line with regulations and customer requirements. www.adifo.be
• Huvepharma NV is a pharmaceutical company with a focus on human and animal health
products. The company also manufactures and markets enzymes for food, feed and
industrial applications. www.huvepharma.com • Nuscience Group specializes in the development of premixes, mineral feed,
concentrates, young animal feed, and healthy feed ingredients. It operates two business
units, Nutrition4U and Health4U. The first one is a range of innovative and effective
young animal nutrition concepts, customized premixes and performing concentrates
while the second one offers the most innovative additives and functional feed
ingredients that play a major role in health, well-being and overall performance of
animals. www.nusciencegroup.com/en-gb • Silo Construction & Engineering specializes in the development of rectangular silo
projects for bulk storage of granulated and powdery products, animal feed, and human
food. http://sce.be/en • VIGAN Engineering S.A. designs and manufactures dry “agri bulk” materials handling
systems. www.vigan.com/en/vigan.php • VYNCKE N.V provides biomass fired energy solutions to the wood industry, the
agriculture & food industry and to renewable energy investors who use various types of
solid fuels. www.vyncke.com
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BELGIUM BECOMES EVEN MORE ATTRACTIVE WITH ITS NEW TAXSHIFT
Belgium recently amended its tax law in order to foster competitiveness and employment. The
major change brought about by this “tax shift” relates to private companies as it will diminish
their salary costs (the personal income tax will be cut down from 33% to 25%). Independent
workers will also benefit from this reform as the very first employee they hire will be tax-
exempted. Labor costs and social security fees will thus decrease and give more room for small
and medium enterprises to develop. These changes were made possible by increasing the VAT
on electricity and the taxes on alcohol, tobacco, sodas and diesel. With the implementation of
this new tax law, Belgium is becoming more than ever a place to invest and start companies.
www.nbb.be/doc/ts/publications/bpnews/bpn70.pdf
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SAMSUNG INVESTS MILLIONS IN SENTIANCE
For the second time, Antwerp-based start-up Sentiance, formerly Argus Labs, raised millions for
the development of its new software. This time, the main investor is the South-Korean Samsung
conglomerate. The young Belgian company, founded by CEO Toon Vanparys, is developing a
software to unlock contextual mobile experiences by collecting sensor data on smartphones,
wearables and connected devices. The platform empowers companies to build behavioral
profiles of connected users and to enrich those profiles with personalized, predictive and
context-aware services. Sentiance raised US$ 5.2 million through the Samsung Catalyst Fund,
which specializes in start-ups. Volta Ventures, Qbic, Nova Participations and Pamica, who all
participated in the first investment round last January, are on board again. During that round,
Sentiance managed to collect US$ 2 million which will be used to speed up the product
development. The company presently consists of 21 employees. Over the next six months, it
plans to expand its business to Asia and the United States.
www.sentiance.com
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SOLVAY AT THE TOP OF INNOVATION
Created in Belgium in 1863, Solvay is a global company driven by proud and committed
chemists. With its historical roots and anchor in Europe, its products serve diversified markets
worldwide, from consumer goods to energy, with one main aim: to improve quality of life and
customer performance. This drive resulted in becoming one of top 10 largest chemical
manufacturers worldwide. Solvay counts indeed 30,900 employees on 145 sites spread in 53
different countries. Solvay is one of the top Belgian innovative companies and has a 12.4 billion
net sales.
Solvay won recently the Airbus qualification for its high-performance light weighting foam
TegraCore™. Soon afterwards, Solvay and The Boeing Company announced that they extended
their contract through 2020 for the supply of high-performance, structural composite and
adhesive materials used to lightweight Boeing’s large passenger aircraft for legacy programs
such as the 737, 747 and 777.
The Solvay group is present in Thailand since 1987 and hires more than 700 employees on three
important sites, i.e. Bangkok, Rayong and Samut Prakan. Last year, the Belgian company
inaugurated in the Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate (Rayong) South-East Asia’s largest sodium
bicarbonate plant. The company is also present in Thailand through a joint venture called
Vinythai, which produces plastic and chemical products to customers across Thailand and Asia.
www.solvay.com/en
www.vinythai.co.th/en
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