City gets Belgian visa application centre,Ambassador calls upon Patil

The joint announcement was made by Vaesen and Vishal Jairath,Regional Head – South Asia,VFS Global at a press conference held on Monday. Also present on the occasion were Antoine Delcourt,Counsellor Economic Affairs of the Embassy of Belgium,Kathlijn Fruithof,Trade and Investment Commissioner for Brussels – Capital Region,Jos Declercq,Trade and Investment Commissioner for Flanders and Christophe Van Overstraeten,Trade and Investment Commissioner for Wallonia.

Speaking on the occasion,the Ambassador said,“As Belgium issues one tenth of the Schengen visas delivered in India,occupying then the fifth position in the list of the 26 Schengen States,the necessity to increase our relationship with VFS Global,who has been our trusted partner for many years,is obvious. It will make it easier for Indians to travel to Belgium for tourism,business or studies”.

Later,the Ambassador of Belgium,Pierre Vaesen and Antoine Delcourt,Counselor,Economic Affairs called on Punjab Governor and Administrator,U T Chandigarh. Shivraj V Patil at the Punjab Raj Bhavan.

Discussing various issues at length with the Belgium Ambassador,Patil said that Punjab has achieved a major breakthrough in the agriculture sector and allied fields and the state is emerging as a progressive and vibrant investment destination. He suggested strengthening partnerships in agri-related ventures,especially food processing,with unlimited scope of collaboration.

The governor said another area which has unlimited scope is solar energy. Patil further stressed that there was major scope to further expand economic and business cooperation in a wide range of fields like nanotechnology,stem technology,sharing of educational tools and technologies.

Stating that India and Belgium enjoy mature bilateral relations and strong socio-cultural linkages,the,Belgium Ambassador,Pierre Vaesen,said that they want to develop university exchange programmes also.