Belgium offers engg skills, seeks IT collaborations

Bilateral business between India and Belgium could increase considerably on the back of Belgian exports of engineering expertise and the strength of Indian research and development and information technology talent. Businessmen from both countries said here on Wednesday.

Crown prince Philippe of Belgium, who in his second visit to India is leading his country's largest ever trade and business delegation to India, also put his weight behind the idea.

In his keynote address, at a gathering of members of chambers of commerce from both countries, Prince Philippe said, "We have come to your country with a single goal in mind: to forge closer ties."

While gems and jewellery still dominates bilateral trade, "as we strengthen our ties with cities like Bangalore, trade will diversify and expand in sectors like logistics, environmental technology, power generation, biotechnology, chemicals and luxury consumer goods."

Belgium, the prince said, was a leader in the utilities sector and large Indian cities that were emerging as clusters of technology, business and trade can exploit that expertise to make their infrastructure world class.

On offer is expertise in power generation, water and waste treatment, construction, telecommunications and public transport.

"We are aware of the important challenges Bangalore faces in these areas as the fastest growing city in India," he said, hinting that Belgian engineering prowess could play a role in transforming Bangalore into a world-class technology destination, even in terms of the physical infrastructure it offered.

Belgian companies were fast discovering that the technology infrastructure found here was already the best, he said. While such companies hadn't invested much in Bangalore yet, this was rapidly changing.

Bangalore's strong software R&D talent was also an attraction to Belgian firms in areas such as space and aeronautics, engineering design and information technology. "There are many partnerships ready to be developed in these areas," he said.

The prince was particularly pleased that "so many young women" played an important role in India's IT sector. He was "delighted" that women in India were a force even in the technical sectors and particularly in the information communication technology industry.

Earlier, S Chandrashekar, president of the Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce (BCIC) said total India-Belgium bilateral trade was Euro 4.916 billion for the nine months to December 2004.

For the year to March 2004, it was Euro 5.618 billion, so "trade is picking up but the full potential is yet to be realised" he said.

Belgium, the 11th largest trading partner of India, accounted for 4.11 per cent of India's total trade. A fifth of Belgian exports goes to Asia and India, mostly through sales of gems and jewellery, which accounts for 7.5 per cent of its total imports from Asia.

Anant Koppar, president of business processing outsourcing firm and BCIC's vice president said, "so far, India software services exports to Belgium are insignificant."

Belgium's logistics behemoths were potential targets for selling "automation products," Koppar said. Trouble is, "we don't even know, yet, what is the level of automation they have."

Belgium spends over Euro 12 billion on IT hardware and office equipment, electronics components, telecom equipment and consumer electronics.

With a workforce a tenth of India's one million IT workers, engaged in making high value added products, Belgium saw sales of Euro 30 billion. A third of that came from value addition in the country, says Agoria a large business lobby in Belgium.