The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved a Memorandum of Understanding which has been signed between Indian and Belgian government authorities at the Federal and regional level for energy.
The objective of this Memorandum of Understanding is to establish the basis for a cooperative institutional relationship to encourage and promote technical bilateral cooperation on new and renewable energy issues on the basis of mutual benefit, equality and reciprocity.
The areas of cooperation will focus on development of new and renewable energy technologies in the field of Wind energy, Biomass, Solar (thermal and photovoltaic), Smart grids, Geothermal energy, Marine energy, contribution of renewables to diversification of supply and energy security, and any other mutually agreed areas.
This MoU in energy will help in strengthening bilateral cooperation between the two countries.
The diplomatic relations between India and Belgium were established in 1948 and our bilateral relations are cordial and friendly.
In recent times, Belgium has acknowledged the growing importance of India’s global role both in political and economic spheres and in this context has emphasized the value of strengthening economic relations between the two countries.
Bilateral Trade: During the year 2013, the bilateral trade stood at € 12.05 billion as compared to € 12.19 billion in 2012.
During January-September 2014, India’ export to Belgium stood at € 3.27 billion as compared to € 3.21 billion during the same period in 2013 recording an increase of 1.6 %.
The major items of India’s export to Belgium are gems &jewellery (constituting around 47% of total export to Belgium), marine products, tobacco, benzene, steel products and textiles.
During January-September 2014, India’ import from Belgium stood at € 6.52 billion as compared to € 6.01 billion during the same period in 2013 recording an increase of 8.5%. The main item of India’s imports from Belgium is unworked diamonds, constituting 83.2 % of total imports from Belgium.
The Indian Diaspora in Belgium numbers around 18,000 as per estimates from the local Government. Of this, nearly 10,000 are Indian citizens. Around 1500 Indian IT professionals work for various Belgian companies, around 800 Indian students are studying in various Belgian Universities and remaining are involved in various other economic activities.
Around 2,500 NRIs/PIOs are based in Antwerp, who are mainly from Gujarat and involved in the diamond trade.
