Past Events

On 13 June 2019, the ABLCC held the BoD and the GA in the premises of BNP PARIBAS FORTIS in Brussels. On this occasion, the Chamber organized, in close cooperation with the Union of Arab Chambers and with the support of BNP Paribas, a forum entitled “A More Sustainable World for Evolving Mind”. This event gathered Arab Ambassadors in Belgium, Belgian Chambers of Commerce, the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce, ABLCC Members and the Belgian foreign trade agencies.

Mr. Herwig VAN CAMP, Deputy Head of Corporate Banking at BNP PARIBAS FORTIS, opened the session and highlighted that the chosen themes for the panels represent the interests of both Belgian-Luxembourg and Arab sides.

Mr. Chairman addressed special thanks to all participants, and representatives from both sides, for their continued support to the ABLCC and close interest in the Chamber’s activities, highighting that the successful relationship is one of the most important pillars of the Chamber. He underlined the positive results regarding the volume of trade between Belgium and Arab Countries reaching more than € 20.5 B in 2018 and called all the Belgian Companies to contribute to the economic transformation and development projects in Arab countries.

Our guest speaker HE Dr. Khaled HANAFY, Secretary General of the Union of Arab Chambers, took the floor and presented a future overview regarding digital economy in the Arab World. He reported that industry consolidation and cooperation enhancement are of key importance. He added that Arab Countries reached a high level in this field and are able to address new challenges.

Then the program started as follows;

Panel 1: Renewable Energy – Moderator: Mr. Ghassan EJJEH, vice president BESIX

- Mr. Jean Michel WAUTELET Director of John Cockerill Solar, presented the activities of the Company at a glance and added that various projects were realized in Arab Countries, especially in the Sustainable Energy field.

Panel 2: Logistics- Moderator: Mr. Fouad TRAD, Managing Director and CEO Byblos bank.

- Mr. Johnny MALEK, Marketing consultant on Dubai Airport Free Zone, presented the future business Dubai Commercity mentioning the importance of the future Electronic commerce in the GCC markets and the middle east , studies estimate an increasing of 20% in the 5 upcoming years, it values will reach 26 billion euro in 2022, and it will contributes in decreasing 25% of Co2 in the atmosphere in 2030. He stressed on the main role of Dubai Airport played in this field since it’s the biggest airport in the world regarding the number of passengers, the airport of Dubai serves more than 240 destinations all over the world, then a documentary film was projected about the Commercity.

- Mr. Pepijn de VREESE, Chief Sales Officer of port of Zeebrugge, presented the port of Zeebrugge and the location of the port since 40 years, its cargo’s flows that reach 40.1 Million Tons/ 2018, he also discussed the Maritime logistics zone and the Green energy as the Elia projects, its key roles for the Gaz distribution all over Europe.

- Mr. Tom MONBALLIU, International Community Relations Manager in port of Antwerp, presented the provided services by the port of Antwerp considered as the second biggest port of Europe well known with its fast and high quality services in the freight field, he underlined the relations and the agreements with Arab Countries and he pointed the training department for qualification of cadres from other ports, he also gave a briefing of the good ties between the port of Antwerp and the port of Duqum in Oman mentioning the next Omani delegation visit to belgium in September 2019.

At the end of the day Mr. Secretary General thanked all the participants, the moderators and the speakers, for the successful event and invite them to the networking reception organized between the delegation and the Belgian/Luxembourg businesspeople.

On 17 June 2019, the Arab Belgian-Luxembourg-Chamber of Commerce had the pleasure of welcoming the Egyptian Belgian Business Association (EBBA) headed by Mr. Rafik ATTIA. On this occasion the ABLCC organized, in collaboration with the Commercial office of the Embassy of Egypt in Brussels, a Business Seminar, followed by a Lunch and B2B meetings.

The Secretary General of the ABLCC Mr. Qaisar Hijazin drew attention, in his welcome speech, to the fact that it was the 10th visit of the EBA Delegation to Brussels. He also addressed special thanks to the Embassy of Egypt in Brussels for its support and praised the development of the Egyptian economy in all sectors.

The Ambassador of Egypt HE Mr. Khaled EL BAKLY expressed the significance of the economic and social reforms undertaken in Egypt and addressed the importance of Egypt as a Hub for Business for all the MENA region and Africa.

He recalled the long history of friendship between Egypt and Belgium and mentioned that Egypt is becoming an energy hub for the Mediterranean area.

Ms. Fabienne L'HOOST, General Director of the Belgian Foreign Trade Agency, stressed the importance of Egypt for Belgian foreign trade and mentioned the increasing number of opportunities for Belgian companies as a consequence of the development of the Egyptian economy. Finally, Mr. Jozef SOMERS, Operations Manager at SGS, shared with us his successful experience with trade in Egypt.

This event was an occasion for the ABLCC to thank for their support and collaboration its valuable partners: the FIT agency, HUB Brussels, AWEX; but also, HE Mr. Yahya EL WATHIK BELLAK and Mr. Sherif ERFAN from the Embassy of Egypt; and the BECI and CBL ACP.

On 24 April 2019, the Arab-Belgian-Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce,in collaboration with hub.brussels, FIT, AWEX, Tunisian Agency for the Promotion of Foreign Investment (FIPA), and with the support of the Embassy of Tunisia in Brussels,  welcomed a Tunisian business delegation carrying out an economic mission in Belgium and Luxembourg.

Mr. Qaisar HIJAZIN, Secretary-General of the Arab Belgian Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce (ABLCC), was pleased to welcome numerous big and small companies from very different economic sectors, He was glad to see that Belgian companies are really motivated to take part to this event.

Through this gathering, attended by 90 participants HE. Mr. Mohamed Ridha BEN MOSBAH aims at shedding light on the importance of Belgian Tunisian relations whilst contributing accurate and up-to-date information on the various developments in Tunisia thanks to his expertise and unique insight, Mr. Mokhtar CHOUARI, gave an overview of the multiple economic opportunities of Investments in Tunisia.

Three Belgian Companies (SBI-BMI, EURA NOVA, ALLOCLOUD) testified their experience in Tunisia and highlighted that Tunisia is a competitive country, with a dynamic growth, simplified procedures, and a pleasant living condition. After the morning seminar, our participants also had the occasion to participated to a pre- arranged B2B meeting and meet the delegation of Tunisian women and businessmen, representing more than a dozen companies in growth sectors for the Belgian economy (ICT, Environment, Renewable Energies, Materials from Construction, Building, Textile, Training and Consulting, Health, Tourism, Services and Agribusiness).

On the 25th, a Seminar and B2B meeting and sites visits has been organized by the Chamber of Commerce of Luxembourg.

On 05 March 2019, a Belgian Business Mission organized by FIT, Awex, and hub.brussels will visit the State of Kuwait.