Following the visit to Europe and Belgium of Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas F. Ople, last October 2002, the Trade Office of the Belgian Embassy in Manila decided to promptly organize a trade mission to the Philippines.
However, no Belgian minister will be able to join in this mission due to crucial European Union meetings at this time. The trade mission is composed of about 25 important companies who will meet with Philippine officials and trade partners in various fields of activity.
About 25 companies from the Brussels Capital Region and the Walloon Region are participating in this mission. All the Belgian business delegates will have individual business meetings with Philippine companies in various fields of activities.
The Belgian Embassy has organized visits to selected national government bureaus tomorrow, Dec. 9, namely, Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), Department of Energy (DOE), Department of Agriculture (DA) and Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). Some companies will also meet with the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) and the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA). The recently-named Ambassador of Belgium to the Philippines Christian Tanghe, will be joining the meetings with the top government officials.
Tomorrow evening, the Ambassador of Belgium and Economic and Commercial Attaché, Vincent Butaye, are organizing a reception for the trade mission delegates. More than 400 invitations have been sent to key players in both the public and private sectors.
The participating Belgian companies are: Alstom Philippines Inc., Agrifor Consult, Benvitec, Beria, Bic Systems — Waste Incineration, Biomedical Systems, CMI Asia & Pacific, DLA Food Ingredients in Philippines, E.N.E. s.a. Energies Nouvelles et Environnement, Eupen Cable Asia, Fortis Bank Philippines, Gantry Group, KBC Bank Manila Branch, Magotteaux Pte Ltd., Menart — Technologies, Philippine Granite Stone Corp., Rox Belgium, SHER Ingénieur-Conseils, Siterem, Sodexho Pass International, Solvay Pharma Inc. Philippines, Transurb-Technirail, UCB Philippines Inc., Umicore Specialty Chemicals Subic.