Belgium

country profile

GROUP NO: 8

Dharambir Singh 14
Chitransi Gupta 27
Mohamad Aftab 35
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history
 Belgium named after the Belgae, a people of
ancient Gaul
 Beginning in 57 BC, Julius Caesar extended
the power of Rome into the region of Europe
that is now Belgium.
 By 431, they had established an
independent dynasty, the Merovingian, with
its capital at Tournai.
 Merovingian was headed by Clovis I (c.466-
511) dynasty.
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 Pepin III in 751, deposed the last of the
Merovingian and founded the Carolingian
 Charlemagne succeeded his father in 768
and ruled for almost a half century.
 In the 12th century, Belgium was partitioned
into the duchies of Brabant and Luxembourg.
 During French Revolution, Belgium was
occupied and later annexed to France.
 But with the downfall of Napoléon In 1830,
Belgium rebelled against Dutch rule and
declared independence
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Key facts
 Full Name: Kingdom of Belgium
 Motto: “Strength Through Unity”
 Capital: Brussels
 Official language: Dutch, French, germane
 King: Albert II
 Prime Minister: Yves Leterme
 Area: 30,528 sq km(11,787 sq miles)
 Major Religion: Christianity
 Life Expectancy: 78 years (man)
84 years (woman) 5
 Sex Ratio: at birth - 1.045 m/f
under 15 -1.04 m/f
15 to 64 - 1.02 m/f
65 over - 0.71 m/f
 Monetary Unit: Euro
 Exchange Rate: 1 US$ = € 1.58
 Internet Domain: .be
 International Dialing Code: +32
 Population: 10.7 million
 GNP per Capital: US$ 45,310
 GDP (PPP): $383.057 billion
 GDP (nominal): $472.103 billion 6
 Literacy rate: 99%
 Human Development Index: 0.867 (18th)
 Drives on the: Right
 Annual population growth rate: 0.094%
 Total Fertility Rate: 1.64/woman
 Infant Mortality Rate: 3.8/1000 live birth
 Unemployment Rate: 8.7% labor force
 Labor Cost: 3.9%
 Corruption perception index: 7.1 (22nd rank)
 Inflation Rate: 2.57%
 Energy Consumption: 5,366 kg of oil equivalent
per capita 7
Employment structure
Structure of Employment

2%
25%
Service
Industry
Agriculture

73%

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Government
 Type: Parliamentary democracy under a
constitutional monarch
 Independence: 1830 (from Netherland)
 Constitution: 1994 (revised)
 Branches: King (head of state)
P.M. (head of government)
Council of Ministery (cabinet)
 Suffrage: over 18, compulsory

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 Major Political Parties: Christian Democratic
Liberal
Socialist
Flemish Nationalists
 Political Subdivisions: 10 Provinces
3 Regions
3 Community
589 Municipalities

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economy
 GDP (PPP): $383.057 billion
 Natural resources: Coal.
 Agriculture: (1% of GDP)
Products: livestock, including dairy cattle,
grain, sugarbeets, milk, tobacco, potatoes,and
other fruits and vegetables.
 Industry: (24.3% of GDP)
Types: Engineering & metal products, motor
vehicle assembly, scientific instrument, food and
beverages, chemical, glass, petroleum
 Service: (74.7 of GDP) 11
 Exports: $ 250 billion

Export

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14
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Export
10
8
6
4
2
0 12
Germany France Holland U.K. U.S. Italy
  Imports: $ 315% billion

Imports

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18
16
14
12 Imports
10
8
6
4
2
0
Holland Germany France U.K. U.S. China 13
geography
 Latitude: 50° 50' North
Longitude: 4° 00' East
 Belgium is located in western Europe, border by
Netherland, Germany, Luxemburg, France and
North Sea.
 Terrain is increasingly hilly and forested in the
southeast (Ardennes) region.
 Climate is cool, temperate, and rainy.
Summer temperatures average 77°F.
Winters average 45°F.
Annual extremes (rarely attained) are 10°F and 14
100°F.
Transport system
 The rail network has 2,950 km of electrified
tracks.
 The road network has 118,414 km of roads
among which 1,747 km of motorways, 13,892 of
main roads and 102,775 km of other paved
roads.
 The ports of Antwerp and Bruges-Zeebrugge are
two of the biggest seaports in Europe.
 The Brussels National Airport is Belgium's
biggest airport.
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Communication system
 There were 4.668 million land telephone lines
in use in Belgium in 2007.
 Mobile telephone ownership has increased by
nearly one thousand percent in the period 1997-
2007, from 974,494 to 10.23 million.
 Belgium had 79 FM radio stations, 7 AM
stations and 1 SW station, serving 8.075 million
radios owned in the country by 1998.
 Major newspapers and magazines in Belgium
are printed monolingual either in Dutch or in
French.
 Internet users (2008): 7,292,251 16
Fun facts of Belgium
 The National Airport in Brussels is the world’s
biggest selling point of chocolates.
 As much as 220,000 tones of chocolates were
produced in the country every year.
 The first country in the world to ban cluster
bombs is Belgium.
 The parliament of Belgium has the maximum
number of female ministers in the world.
 Education is mandatory for all citizens up to the
age of 18.
 The Belgian motorway system is the only man-
made structure that is visible from the moon. 17
 Belgium is the world’s diamond center and The
diamond capital of the world is Antwerp.
 Herge, the author of the famous comic series
"Tintin“ and is a Belgian.
 People of Belgium are fond of animals and each
Belgian household would have at least one cat or a
dog.
 Brussels is also the Headquarters of the NATO.
 Brussels, the capital of Belgium, is the capital of
European Union (EU).
 The Belgian designer Sting Helsen designed the
costumes for Pirates of the Caribbean and the
spider man suit for Spider Man III.
 Belgians love to collect discount coupons. 18
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Belgium - India trade
INDIA-BELGIUM TOTAL TRADE FROM 2004-2009(billion Euro)
Year Indian Export Indian Total Trade
Imports
2004 2.2 4.2 6.4

2005 2.4 5.1 7.5

2006 3.0 4.6 7.6

2007 3.3 5.3 8.6

2008 3.8 5.0 8.8

2009 2.6 4.5 7.1

Growth 18% 7% 11%

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 Belgium is the third largest trading partner of
India in the European Union.
 annual bilateral trade turnover amounting Euro
7.1 billion in 2009.
 India is the13th largest exporter to Belgium and
9th largest importer of Belgiam products.
 The major items of Indian exports to Belgium
are:
Natural/cultured pearls, Precious stones and
metals; Textiles and articles; Base metals; Iron
and steel; Chemical products, Machinery and
Electrical Equipments
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 Indian imports from Belgium are:
Organic chemicals; Plastic and rubber; Plastics
and articles thereof; Pharmaceutical products,
machinery and mechanical appliances.

 The 11th round of India and Belgium-

Luxembourg Economic Union (BLEU) took place in
Brussels on May 4-5, 2009 after a gap of eight
years.

 FDI to India (2010): 0.5% of total FDI – very low.

 From 2000-2010, it is just $ 327.84 million.
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challange

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Transport and logistic industry
Country has good infrastructure, skilled workforce
and IT opportunities.
It is located at the heart of Europe, lying between
northern and Mediterranean Europe.
Time required for train journey from Belgium.
Paris London Amsterdam Frankfurt

80 min 111 min 113 min 202 min

Highly developed transport network, comprising

roads, waterways, railways and airports.
Antwerp, the second largest European port and the
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fourth largest in the world is in Belgium.
Deduction of 30% of acquisition price for
exclusively engage in shipping.
expansion of the Deurganck Dock in Antwerp, APM
Terminals in Zeebrugge, TriLogiPort in Liège.
Revenue generated (2009) :
Marine freight Rail freight Road freight Air freight

$ 4.6 billion $ 0.83 billion $ 15.7 billion $ 0.4 billion

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Chocolate industry
Chocolate has become a way of life for the Belgian
people. They eat, play and work with chocolate.
Country has numerous museums dedicated to
chocolate, such as the Museum of Cocoa and
Chocolate in Brussels.
They have chocolate festivals during the year.
Festival welcomes chocolate artists, representatives
of the cocoa producing countries and lots of other
exhibitors.
Belgium considered as world’s capital of chocolate.
According to the International Cocoa Organization,
Belgium ranks number two in per capita consumption 27
of chocolate.
Belgium produces 172,000 tons of chocolate per
year sold in over 2,130 Belgian chocolate shops.
Netherland, French and Germany are the main
source of cocoa in Europe.
Belgium is boarded by these countries, so import
of cocoa is not a tedious task.
Belgium account for the 10.2% of the world’s
butter production.

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 Belgium is the third largest country in production
of butter after U.S. and New Zealand.
Airfreight exports of chocolate go for US, South
Korea, Japan and India have doubled for each of
the past five years.
Belgian people are obsessed with good
chocolate and that’s why they are ready to pay
45 euro per kilo chocolate.

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Pharmaceutical industry
 Belgium produces 5% of all new medicines
worldwide.
 Belgium has the largest number of per capita
clinical trials in Europe.
 Research centers and scientific institutions
benefit from a 50% reduction in payroll tax to be
paid.
 The second largest pharmaceutical export
country in the world in absolute figures.

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 Newly established Federal Agency for Medicines
and Health.
 The fastest approval for phase 1 clinical trials (2
week).
 The pharmaceutical industry consistently ranks
highest in most attractive employers.
 Access to a potential market of 456 million people.
 7th largest investor in the world in
biopharmaceutical R&D.

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 The largest number of medicines in development in
the world per capita.
 The highest concentration of life-science
employees in the world.
 The country is also a world center of vaccines
research and manufacturing.
 A strategic position at the political heart of Europe :
the presence of many international organizations
e.g. European Institutions, Innovative Medicines
Initiative and major corporate headquarters

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Advantages of Belgium
Advantageous geographical position
Excellent infrastructure
Multi-skilled, highly skilled work force
Stable industrial relation
High quality of life
Global FDI capital inflows ($ Billion):
1. U.S. 175
2. U.K. 139
3. French 81
4. Belgium 72
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Belgium’s Ranking in wcy

Quality of math and science education 3rd

Quality of management schools 7th

Quality of education 8th

Language skills of workforce 9th

Quality of scientific research institutions 9th

 Business infrastructure
Ranking

Road density 1
Low broadband costs 2
($ US per 100 kbit/second per month

Rail density 5

Broadband subscribers per 1000 8

Low electricity costs for industrial 9
clients
Quality of port infrastructure 5
Thank you

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