MUMBAI: Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever took a pointed swipe at the United States (US) President Donald Trump’s tariff policy, accusing him of imposing trade barriers arbitrarily and without economic logic.
He also said the Port of Antwerp-Bruges will lead a delegation to India in February next year to deepen cooperation across ports, logistics, chemicals and energy.
De Wever announced that the Port of Antwerp-Bruges will bring a full delegation to India in February next year, comprising companies and representatives from terminals, logistics, chemicals and energy. “These days, more and more voices are calling for barriers to go up, for markets to shut off and for tariffs to be imposed. Some do it entirely arbitrarily. The Belgian prime minister also identified green hydrogen as another major area for cooperation, pointing to India’s ambitious plans to expand production and Belgium’s aim of becoming a major North-West European importer of green molecules. Union commerce minister Piyush Goyal called for deeper India-Belgium cooperation in the lab-grown diamond sector, including technology and certification. “Let us co-create, design. The minister suggested anchoring the initiative in Antwerp, a major global diamond marketplace, and in Mumbai and Surat, which are at the heart of India’s diamond-processing ecosystem. He also used the diamond metaphor to underline the potential of the India-Belgium partnership. “A diamond is formed under tremendous pressure. “Maharashtra would like to be the first state to translate the Belgium-Maharashtra projects. The projects must be fast-tracked.
“We are not coming to discuss what we might do; we are coming to agree on what we are going to do together,” he said, signalling a push to turn the India-Belgium partnership into concrete projects in the maritime sector. Maybe lab-grown diamonds would be a new area we should look at working together in,” he said. In a world under pressure and turmoil, let India and Belgium form something as beautiful and precious as a diamond, not just for India, Belgium and Europe, but a diamond for the world,” he said. Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said the state is ready to play a leading role in translating the India-EU FTA into concrete projects. If Belgium identifies a project, we will dedicate a team and work with Belgium to make it happen,” he said.
They decide something on Monday, revoke it on Wednesday and reinstate it on Saturday,” he said in an obvious reference to the US President.
