About 50 Indian exhibitors participated in the 63rd annual Accenta International Fair in the Belgian city of Ghent. India is the guest of honour at this year’s fair at the Flanders Expo grounds, which was to finish September 21. Dr. Sheela Bhide, Chairman and Managing Director of the India Trade Promotion Organisation , spoke to EuAsiaNews about the relevance of India’s participation in Accenta.

“Trade between India and Belgium has been going on satisfactorily and is worth about 8.3 billion Euro today. The main exports from India are gems and jewelery, diamonds, metals, chemicals, electrical equipment and engineering goods. Surprisingly, exports from Belgium to India are more or less the same things,” she said during a reception held at the Indian pavilion. A number of Indian companies are now setting up shop in Belgium and investment is flowing in. India being the fourth largest trader with Belgium outside the EU, Bhide believes “There is a lot of scope for increase in trade between the two countries.”

Belgium has the first place within the EU in terms of export to India. Jan de Geest, Director of the Flanders International Trade Fair, said it was a “bringing together of two cultures,” which he said is important because more Belgians are in contact with their Indian counterparts and can see how India has evolved over the years as an economic power. Handicrafts, textiles and jewelry were on display at the Indian stands. An Indian Business Forum was organised on the sidelines in which key players in Indian business like diamond baron Dilip Mehta, CEO of Rosy Blue, and Naresh Goyal, CEO of JetAirways, and chairman of the Belgo-Indian chamber of Commerce and Industry, Baron Phillipe Vlerick took part.

(EuAsiaNews)