On January 11, 2012, the BLBA held its Annual General Meeting at the India Habitat Center in New Delhi. The meeting was well attended, and about 30 people were present at the meeting. H.E. Mr. Pierre Vaesen graced the occasion with his presence. The meeting started at 7.30 pm with good news. Mr. Anil Anand, Managing Director of the Luxembourg company Paul Wurth India pvt. Ltd. was introduced as the new BLBA President until March 31^st, 2013. Vice-President Mr. P. Ratna Rao also announced that the treasurer position of Mr. Ravi Ailawadhi will be replaced by Mr. Rajiv Dhawan, Director at Magotteaux Industries.

Mr. Abel Garamhegyi, Managing Director of Barco India has accepted to be a part of the BLBA executive committee. Mr. Jos De Clercq, First Secretary Trade and Investments (Flanders) was also introduced and welcomed to the BLBA executive committee.

After this, Mr. P Ratna Rao continued to present the Annual Report for the year 2010-2011. Goals of the Association, past as well as future ones, were presented.  A list of planned future events was presented to the members, and they were asked to bring in their views and ideas.

After the Annual Report, Treasurer Mr. Ailawadhi presented the financial report for 2010-2011. The financial report was accepted by the members present. This presentation was followed by an open discussion regarding BLBA future events for 2012-2013. The events to look forward to are many, for example an invitation to EU President to speak on EU-India relations, and a visit to a Luxembourg company this year.  The next BLBA event planned for February is a Seminar on logistics, to portray the logistics facilities of Belgium as a gateway to Europe for Indian exporters.

After this interesting open discussion, we had the much awaited speech of the evening, a Special Address by H.E. Mr. Pierre Vaesen, Ambassador of Belgium to India. Mr. Vaesen started off with a mention of the booming bilateral economic relations between India and Belgium. He took our attention to the fact that 10 % of the EU export is Belgian, and that Belgium is the second EU trading partner of India, only behind Germany. More and more Indian companies are investing in Belgium and at present Indian investments in Belgium sum up to 1.12 billion euros. He also mentioned that 150 Belgian companies are present in India at the moment.

H.E. spoke about the role of BLBA in the booming Belgian-Indian economic relations. He stated that BLBA will need to adapt to a changing role of the business association, and to the economic changes between the two countries. The added value of BLBA is providing useful information on bilateral relation as well as networking to exchange experiences and practices. Some of the prime tools to implement this added value are an increased number of Seminars and lectures. H.E. Mr. Vaesen also mentioned that in order to achieve this, BLBA is relying completely on its membership. The organisation must be geared and avoid the bureaucracy. The top priority of the association should be to promote business between the countries. The Belgian Ambassador said that the Embassy is committed to support the role of the BLBA and that he looks forward to a fruitful collaboration with BLBA. H.E. also thanked Mr. P Ratna Rao, Past President, Acting President as well as Vice-President of the Association, for his commitment and excellent contribution to the BLBA.

This Special Address was followed by a Vote of Thanks by Ms. Yasuko Muller, Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, New Delhi.

Mr. P Ratna Rao finally thanked the members present, and a bouquet was handed over to H.E. Mr. Pierre Vaesen for the Embassy`s support to the Association.  Also, Mr. Ravi Ailawadhi was thanked with flowers for his excellent contribution as the treasurer of the Association for the past 11 years.

After the meeting, there was a networking session with cocktails and snacks, followed by a delicious dinner!

Thank you everyone for your time and continuous support to the Association!