NEWS. The Embassy of Belgium. Economic social cultural. October Embassy of Belgium October Dear All,

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1 Economic social cultural Embassy of Belgium October 2013 NEWS October 2013 The Embassy of Belgium Dear All, Enclosed you will find our Economic Newsletter for October Belgium and Thailand celebrate this year the 145 th anniversary of the treaty of Friendship between our countries and the 130 th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations. The Belgian Club of Thailand celebrated its 35 th anniversary, Beluthai, the Belgium Luxemburg Thai Chamber of Commerce, exists 20 years, and one of the biggest investors in Thailand, Belgian company Solvay celebrates its 150 th anniversary. Do we need more reasons to celebrate? The Belgian Embassy joined forces with Plaza Athenée and Chulalongkorn University to realize two initiatives: a Belgian Food Week and a concert by Wim Mertens. You will find more information on these initiatives in this Newsletter. Enjoy the reading, Marc Michielsen Ambassador 1

2 THAI-BELGIAN TRADE The Office of the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Commerce has recently published the 2012 foreign trade statistics of the Kingdom of Thailand. These statistics give a good insight into the trade patterns between Thailand and Belgium. The statistics show that since 2011 trade between Thailand and Belgium has been on the rise in many sectors. Thailand s imports from Belgium Within ASEAN, Thailand is Belgium s most important market after Singapore. The top three export items are jewelry, chemicals, and machinery and parts. Pharmaceutical products occupy the fourth position while vegetables and vegetable products are ranked fifth. Between 2011 and 2012 Thai imports from Belgium have grown with 1,4 billion THB to reach 34,4 billion THB in total. The import items with the most significant increase regard ships, boats and floating structures, machinery and parts, and jewelry. Thailand s exports to Belgium Since many years the main Thai items which are exported to Belgium are precious stones and jewelry, radio-broadcast receivers, television receivers and parts thereof, rubber products, articles of apparel and clothing, and finally cars and car parts. Exports from Thailand to Belgium have risen as well in With a growth of 320 million THB, Thailand s exports to Belgium accounted for 53,8 billion THB in The categories for which the biggest increase was recorded regard firstly teleprinters and telephone sets, secondly other electrical equipment and parts thereof, and thirdly radio-broadcast receivers, television receiver and parts thereof. Bilateral trade between the two Kingdoms is clearly on the rise. While jewelry remains by far the number one item to be traded between Thailand and Belgium, the trade in other items is growing steadily as well. The future looks bright! 2

3 SOLVAY ANNOUNCES HUGE INVESTMENT IN THAILAND Last week Solvay, a world leader in soda ash and bicarbonate, announced that it plans to build South-East Asia s largest sodium bicarbonate plant. The facility will be located on Solvay s existing site in Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate (Rayong province, Thailand) and will have a total capacity of ton per year. The new facility will help meet the growing demand for high quality products from the region s dynamic healthcare and food markets. The investment is worth 20 million EUR or 843 million THB. The plant is due for start up in the first half of The project will be managed by Solvay Peroxythai, Solvay s first entity in Thailand which was established 25 years ago. The plant will use Solvay s new generation BICAR production technology which minimizes waste generation, optimizes energy recovery and maximizes yield. The project is fully supported by the Board of Investment in Thailand, who granted the Full privileges to the new investment by Solvay Peroxythai in June. 3

4 MYANMAR MISSION VISITS FLANDERS A visit by Burmese vice-president H.E. U Nyan Tun and by minister of transportation H.E. U Nyan Htun Aung to Flanders resulted in new contracts for Flemish companies. The Burmese delegation visited the port of Antwerp and some Flemish companies in the beginning of October. They also had a meeting with Flemish Minister President Kris Peeters. The Flemish study and engineering firm SBE, who published a feasibility study on the navigability of the Irrawaddy river, was asked to help implementing this study. The Irrawaddy river flows from North to South Myanmar and is the country s largest river an most important commercial waterway. The development of waterways, ports and transportation infrastructure is one of the priorities of the Myanmar government. SBE has established itself over the last 30 years as a research agency and consultancy specializing in hydraulic structures, civil engineering, geotechnical engineering and steel structures. Packo Inox was requested to deliver 200 milk cooling tanks and pasteurizers. Packo is considered a pioneer in the field of milk cooling and processing. For almost 50 years Packo has been producing large numbers of milk cooling tanks, collection centres and instant cooling systems, ice water systems and pasteurizers. Packo produces three types of cooling tanks: with ice water, direct expansion and instant cooling. Medec, a company which assembles anesthesia equipment, has delivered 133 sets of equipment to Myanmar and will start training doctors. Medec has references in over 90 countries for both general and very specific applications for anaesthesia solutions. Medec was the winner of the Export Lion 2013, annual prize awarded by Flanders Investment & Trade to a Flemish company that has been the most successful in terms of export during the previous year. 4

5 BELGIAN FOOD WEEK IN BANGKOK To celebrate the 130/145 th anniversary of the Thai-Belgian bilateral relations, Hotel Plaza Athenée, in cooperation with the Belgian Embassy, will organize a Belgian Food Week starting 4 November On this occasion, the hotel, which is part of the Méridien Group, invited a Belgian top chef. The week will start with a gala dinner on Monday 4 November. From Tuesday 5 November until Saturday 9 November, a delicious Belgian buffet will be prepared. This will be the ideal opportunity to enjoy real Belgian carbonades (accompanied by a Belgian beer) and Belgian fish dishes. WIM MERTENS IN CONCERT On the occasion of the 130/145 th anniversary of the Belgian Thai bilateral relations, the Belgian Embassy will organize a concert by world famous Belgian musician Wim Mertens. Mertens will be playing a concert in Bangkok on 31 st of October The concert will take place at Chulalongkorn University, on invitation only. Mertens is an international recording and performing artist who has performed, as a soloist and with his ensemble, all over Europe, in North and Central America, Japan and in Russia. It will be his first concert ever in Bangkok. Wim Mertens plays the piano and the classical guitar. He sings in a characteristic voice, using a carefully crafted personal language. The Embassy is grateful for the support by Solvay, Beluthai, Thai Military Bank, Padaeng Industry, Muang Thai Life Assurance, Jagota, Pamornchai Supply and Thai Airways. 5

6 NEWS FROM BELUTHAI On Thursday 17 October 2013, the Belgian-Luxembourg/Thai Chamber of Commerce Beluthai together with the NTCC is hosting its 15th Annual Business Awards Ceremony in the Grand Hyatt Erawan Hotel Bangkok. The Beluthai/NTCC Business Awards Ceremony is unique to the Chambers and their members, allowing them to recognize and celebrate truly noteworthy performances within the Benelux-Thai business community. This year awards will be handed out in the following categories: Best Multinational Company (MNC) Best Small or Medium Enterprise (SME) Best Innovation (new product, new service) Best Entrepreneur (started a successful business in Thailand less than 3 years ago) Best Sustainability Initiative And on top of that, for this 15th edition the two chambers are flying in the 10-person Belgian/Dutch band Big to the Future. More information can be found on BELUTHAI S LOYAL CORPORATE PARTNERS: 6