On October 19, 2010, V.I. Matvienko, Governor of St.Petersburg, met at Smolny with the Belgian delegation headed by Mr Kris Peeters, Minister-President of Flanders.
On October 19, 2010, V.I. Matvienko, Governor of St.Petersburg, met at Smolny with the Belgian delegation headed by Mr Kris Peeters, Minister-President of Flanders.
During the conversation, Valentina Ivanovna noted the growing and expanding economic relations of St.Petersburg and Belgium. After the first half of 2010, Belgium is the second largest investor in St.Petersburg. Compared with the same period of 2009, the investments have increased by 11 times and amounted to 18,6% of total investments.
The governor welcomed the CEOs of the ports of Antwerp, Ghent, and Zeebrugge, as well as other members of the delegation of Flanders, who came to expand the presence of the Belgian capital on the market in St.Petersburg. It has been mentioned that nowaday Flanders is the fastest growing region of Belgium, and we have a substantial reserve for developing the cooperation in transport and logistics, innovation and information technology, construction, light industry, tourism.
A special place occupies the cultural cooperation, which is actively developed. V.I. Matvienko expressed her hope that the launch of the «New Museum on the Water» in Antwerp, a twin city, with which the 50th anniversary of cooperation was widely celebrated in 2008, would provide additional opportunities for the development of Russian-Flemish relations in the area of museum work – for example, opening of the Virtual Center of the State Russian Museum.
The Governor thanked the General Consulate of Belgium in St.Petersburg and personally Mrs Consul-General for her active and fruitful work in the development of friendly and mutually beneficial ties with St.Petersburg.
Source: Committee for External Relations of St.Petersburg