Belgium shows its confidence in Belt and Road

This year is the 10 anniversary of the 2008 calamity of Wall Street, following the fall of the Lehman Brothers, which caused the chronic global financial crisis and economic recession. The recent global stock market plunges, again originating in the United States, have been an unwelcome reminder of their volatility.

However, my recent trip to Zeebrugge, a medium-sized sea port in Belgium, showed that a crisis can be transformed into a long chain of opportunities if visionary decisions can be made.

The opportunities began in 2010, in the depth of the financial crisis in Europe, when China’s automaker Geely acquired Volvo and the Sweden-based company’s car operation in Belgium’s Ghent, injecting them with new vitality.

That started a Sino-Belgian chain reaction with Belgium making good use of its European gateway position and finding synergies with China’s Belt and Road Initiative.

The Port of Zeebrugge, about sixty kilometers away from Volvo’s Ghent operation, is among those following Geely and Volvo’s pioneering steps to bring China and Belgium closer.

Since last July, thousands of the S90L, Volvo’s flagship model, manufactured in the company’s Daqing plant in Northeast China’s Heilongjiang province, have been sent to Zeebrugge port by rail and from there, the cars have been distributed to various European markets.

... the evolution of Belgium-China economic ties in recent years can serve as evidence that deeper connectivity is good for bilateral or international relations.