Belgium rolls out red carpet for Indian firms

New Delhi, Nov 3 (UNI) While pointing out that Belgium is India's gateway to the European Union and a global logistics and distribution hub for its businesses, Belgium Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt today invited investments from Indian companies.

''We have rolled out the red carpet for Indian industry through a slew of financial incentives, labour law changes and social security measures,'' he said at a meeting with industry leaders here.

Notional interest deduction, low cost of capital investment and tax breaks in personal and income tax make Belgium an attractive investment destination for multi-national corporations, he pointed out.

Brussels is the capital of EU and Antwerp is EU's second largest port and is in the centre of international diamond business.

The country also offers a well-educated labour market, good infrastructure, large markets for high capacity investments, high level of quality life and incentives for research and development, Belgium's Deputy PM and Finance Minister Didier Reynders said.

Indian companies have already invested one billion dollars in Belgium. The predominant areas of investment are IT and the diamond sector.

The Belgian Secretary of State for Administrative Reform Vincent Van Quickenborne said in order to fight against bureaucracy, Belgium has developed strategies on the concept of ''cutting red tape for business''.

The measures included installation of the Electronic Crossroads Bank for social security; introduction of Electronic Invoice and Electronic Fax Filing.

As a result of this, today it is possible to start a business in the country within a short span of three days in comparison to two months in 2003, he said.

Belgium has emerged as one of the largest EU trading partners for India, the annual bilateral trade has surpassed 5,500 million euros.

Trade in precious stones and metals have constituted the main commercial activity between the two countries, with raw diamonds accounting for 80 per cent. Sectors like pharmaceuticals and drugs, IT, ITES, engineering and handicraft hold good potential for expansion of India's external trade.

Over 300 Belgian companies have established their operations in India, with 100 into manufacturing and 200 in trading.

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