In the eyes of most Chinese people, Belgium is famous for its beer, diamond or football. However, for people of Guangdong, they have a new opportunity to explore Belgium thoroughly for how they live, work, study, love, etc.

In 2015, Guangdong and Limburg Province of Belgium have signed an agreement to establish sisterhood. During a delegation of Limburg visited Guangdong on December, a new package of cooperation on communication, tourism and education has been decided by the two governments, which marks the bilateral relationship goes further.

Frank Zwerts, Director of “Locate in Limburg” Organization and one of the members of the Limburg delegation, who has visited China 59 times, shared his opinion on the future cooperation between Guangdong and Limburg with Newsgd.com.

Frank Zwerts, Director of “Locate in Limburg”(Photo by Steven)

Q：In 2015, Guangdong and Limburg have established the sister-province relationship. Limburg also expressed the hope that Chinese individuals and corporations could invest in Limburg, what benefits and conveniences could Limburg offer to Chinese individuals and corporations?

A: If you look general to a country like Belgium, it proceeds to be very complex in its (cultural) context and structures. In order to help people and guide them to make of the differences of the regulations, we set up the “Located in Limburg” organization. We can help you to set up your business in our province and basically guide you to realize our regulations.

Corda Campus, one of the innovative infrastructures in Limburg. (Photo provided by Limburg Government)

Actually, our officers are also the businessmen themselves so they have experienced the similar process as the companies that we want to attract. We don’t talk too many strategic things but we will tell you what should do and how to do.

Besides, we can offer tax breaks. We have a schedule which has been approved by the European Commission. That means certain investment in certain areas could have a special tax incentive. We can of course offer to Chinese companies.

Q: Do you think Guangdong Province is a good place to attract the investments from Limburg? In your opinion, what advantages does Guangdong Province have for foreign countries?

A: China is the biggest populated country in the world. But if you look at the DNA how the structure is built up, Guangdong and Limburg are similar to each other. You have high ambitions and we have high ambitions. We upgrade from minor industries to high-tech industries. We have already started the upgrading process in about fifteen years ago but for Guangdong it is recent history. You have a lot of people who are very opened for the conversations. You have a lot of capital going around here so there are a lot of adventurers. I think those are your advantages.

Q: As we know, both Limburg and Guangdong have focused on technological innovation and industrial upgrading, what do you think Guangdong and Limburg could learn from each other?

A: Innovation is a process for which how you make sure that your input and innovation can help the company going to success. That’s a lot to do with process such as how you handle that, what are the innovation steps and so on.

Bike Valley, an innovative infrastructures in Limburg  (Photo provided by Limburg Government)

My feeling is that Chinese companies should think a lot on how it should be done if the cost of labor rose. Maybe it is not very important today for you. But every year, salaries of people increased, definitely in China if you look at the absolute number. The labor is also an increasingly important factor for competition so finding the right people is also a challenge in China tomorrow as it has already happened in our country so we could learn a lot from each other about that.

On the other side, from innovation in Guangdong, I was mostly impressed by what we saw in these days. A lot of companies here have established relationship already with lots of western companies. We saw a lot of innovative DNA in the companies and organizations here. You have a vision to be the NO.1 and look into other large markets where the technology happens around like Silicon Valley. However, if you want to copy that model, it may not work because your situations are still a little bit different. Where we could help you is that how is innovation being handled in Europe. It’s slightly different but it’s very important. The big thing I want to say is don’t just copy the innovation mode in the United States and address it to the European market because it may not work as effective as it should be. We have countries speaking 19 languages. The culture and the law of the countries in EU are all different. Belgium in particular, for a large percentage of the innovations that happen in Europe, they originate from Belgium. That means if you succeed in Belgium, you could possibly succeed in the rest of the Europe.

Q: Both Guangdong and Limburg have a developed logistics industry. What could Guangdong and Limburg learn from each other?

A: During this visit, we have visited multiple logistic players in Guangdong. Some of them I would call Tier-1 players in that field who have developed advanced technology by their own hands. They make the logistic chain much better. What could we learn is that it made us to think how about one day they can work with us.

And one thing I think very important is that because the logistical chain in our province is a very nice collaboration between air, roads and water, we could teach each other how actually we have done. Definitely we have a lot of players in this space so if your companies want to set up its logistic chain in Europe, we can offer logistical services.

Q: If a company in Guangdong wants to invest in Limburg, what qualifications should they meet?

A: Guangdong companies if they want to establish meaningful and long-term relationship in Europe, they need to get presence there.

You can set up branches in a lot of larger countries which typically Chinese companies would have strong ambitions to do like Germany, France or the U.K. However, Europe is a complicated region with a lot of individual nations which have their own proud, their own visions and their own law. What typically happened is that if you based in Germany and you go to the U.K or France, they don’t like you so much because there are competitions between those nations. If you go to France or the U.K., the same happens as Germany. So what would be nice is that go to more neutral country. Belgium is built around consensus. We have a lot of governors from different political parties who always alleviate collisions to make things happen.

The location of Limburg (File photo)

If you look at particular in Belgium, the geographical location of our province is very close to Netherland and Germany. We have a big harbor in Antwerp which is second biggest harbor in Europe. Antwerp is a very important harbor and the advantage for that harbor is that it’s quite inland thus there is an easy connection from that with inland. Located in Limburg means you have a logistic advantage to set up your business in Europe.

Q: Since you have been many times in China, what impressed you the most?

A: I have been multiple times in China. China is amazing. Everything becomes bigger and bigger when every time I come to China.

Guangdong people are very proud of their province. They carry that in their heart, their soul. That’s very positive. Your ambitions are very clear. You want to play in a “champion’s league” globally and I think you will make it some days in the future.

All of the factories have been growing professional compared to when I was here 2 years ago, 5 years ago or 10 years ago.

What impressed me the most is that the speed at which things you go ahead. You are a big nation. You manage somehow to get this nation still develop with high speed in majority. Getting something big with high speed in majority is a huge task. That’s something I don’t see anywhere in the world.

Text by Keane

(Please turn to next page for Chinese version)

    在多数中国人眼中，比利时因啤酒、钻石和足球而闻名。然而，广东人民现在有机会更加深入地了解比利时。了解比利时人民生活，工作，学习，爱情的方方面面。

    2015年，广东和比利时林堡省签署协议正式成为友好省。今年12月，在林堡省政府团访问广东的过程中，两省政府在人文交流、旅游和教育等多方面签署了一揽子协议，出台了更多的合作项目。这些合作项目标志着两省关系稳步前进。

    林堡省商务平台主任法兰克•斯瓦兹先生曾经59次到访中国。作为此次访问广东的林堡省政府代表团的成员之一，他接受了南方英文网专访，分享了他对两省未来合作的一些独到见解。

林堡省商务平台主任法兰克•斯瓦兹先生 （图：袁子翔）

问：2015年广东和林堡正式成为友好省。林堡省也表达了欢迎中国的个人或企业赴林堡投资的强烈愿望。林堡省可以为中国的个人或企业赴当地投资提供哪些便利？

答：如果你从更全面的角度看比利时，它的人文背景和治理结构其实是有向复杂化的方向发展的。为了帮助人们和引导人们更好地理解这些规制的不同，我们设立了林堡商务平台。我们可以帮助你们更好地在林堡省开展业务，引导你们尽快地适应这些规章制度。

科达科技园鸟瞰图 (图片来源：林堡省政府)

实际上，我们的工作人员本身就是商人。投资者经历过的相关程序他们大部分也经历过。我们可能不会跟你们谈很多战略性的东西，但是我们会告诉你应该做什么，该怎么做。

除此之外，我们还可以为企业提供减税优惠。我们有相关的减税安排，这些安排都是欧洲委员会特许的。这意味着我们可以为在一些领域的具体投资提供减税，我们很乐意将这个优惠提供给中国的企业。

问：您认为对于林堡而言，广东是一个理想的投资地吗？您认为广东对与外国人来说有哪些方面的优势？

答：中国是世界上人口最多的国家。但是如果你从两省的结构来看，我们有很多相同的基因。你们有雄心壮志，我们也有。我们都在向高技术密集型产业升级。而我们在大约15年前已经启动产业转型升级了。广东有很多很乐于跟外国人对话的开明人士。广东也是资本流通密集的地区，这吸引了全球商人来这里寻找机会。我认为这些都是你们的优势所在。

问：我们都知道，广东和林堡目前均致力于技术创新和产业转型升级，您认为两省可以从彼此身上学习到什么？ 

答：创新是一个如何确保你的投入可以使公司走向成功的过程。这其中涉及到很多的工作，例如怎么掌控创新的节奏，怎样循序渐进地进行创新等等。

我个人的感觉是中国企业应该提前把劳动力成本上升当作一个主要考虑因素。也许现在看起来这没有那么重要。但是很显然，数据显示每一年工人的工资都在上升。劳动力是企业竞争中一个持续增长的考量因素，所以如何找到真正适合企业的员工对于未来的中国来说肯定会是一个挑战，正如目前在我们国家所发生的一样，所以我们可以在这个问题上相互借鉴。

另一方面，这几天我对广东“创新驱动”所取得的成就印象深刻。广东的很多公司已经和西方的企业建立了合作关系。我们在这里的很多企业和组织身上看到了创新的基因。你们有成为世界第一的愿景并且将目光投向了像硅谷这样的高科技密集型产业地区。但是，如果你们仅仅是生搬硬套硅谷的模式，那可能并不会取得预期的效果因为你们的实际情况肯定会有不同。这也是我们也许可以帮助你们的地方，我们可以告诉你们在欧洲我们是怎样去把控创新。虽然这与你们也有些不一样但是这也很重要。我想强调的是不要把美国的创新模式照搬并且应用到欧洲的市场上来，因为那样很可能会事倍功半。在欧盟，我们有说着19个不同语言的国家，它们各自的文化和法律都是不一样的。但是反观比利时，欧洲有很大一部分的创新起源于比利时。所以如果你在比利时成功了，这意味着你很有可能在欧洲的其它地方获得成功。

自行车研发谷 (图片来源：林堡省政府)

问：广东和比利时都都有着发达的物流业。您认为在这方面两省彼此间有哪些借鉴之处？

答：在这次访问中，我们参观了很多广东的物流企业。我觉得他们在这个领域里都是一流的企业。他们用自己的双手开发除了很先进的科技。他们优化了整个物流产业链条。我们可以从他们身上学到什么？我唯一想的就是未来怎样与他们进行合作。

我想强调的是在林堡省的物流链条是一个结合了空路、陆路和水路的良好综合体，我们可以相互交流学习，我们各自是怎样完成这一切的。此外，显而易见我们也有很多一流的物流公司，所以如果你们的企业想在欧洲安家，我们也可以提供相应的物流服务。

问：请问如果广东企业想在林堡投资，它们需要符合哪些条件？

答：广东企业如果想与欧洲建立长期的实质性的关系，他们需要在欧洲落地。

你们可以选择在像英、法、德这样的大国开设分公司，正如你们很多雄心勃勃的公司那样。但是，欧洲是一个很复杂的地区。欧洲国家都有自己的民族自豪感、自己的愿景和法律。所以，很可能发生情况是如果你选择在德国设立分公司，那么你可能不会受到英国和法国的欢迎，因为这三个国家之间存在着竞争。如果你选择或者英国落地，相同的情况同样会发生。所以选择在一个像比利时这样的中立国家落地将会是一个很好的选择。比利时是一个建立在共识基础上的国家。我们的政府虽然由不同的政党组成，但是它们都倾向于缓和矛盾去促成事业。

林堡省的地理位置相当优越，离荷兰和德国都很近。我们拥有欧洲第二大港——安特卫普港（仅次于鹿特丹港）。安特卫普港在欧洲是一个十分重要的港口，它的独特优势在于它是一个内陆港，所以它与欧洲内陆的联系十分便利。选择在林堡落地意味着你在物流上已经占据了优势，方便你在欧洲开展业务。

林堡省在比利时的地理位置 （资料图）

问：听说您已多次到访中国，是我们的“老朋友”了，您认为中国的哪一方面给您的印象最深刻？

答：是的，我确实来过中国很多次了。中国总能给我惊喜，每次我来中国，都感觉中国的一切变得越来越大。

这一次，我感触最深的是广东人民对他们所在的省份充满自豪。他们是真真切切地将这份骄傲与自豪内化于心，深入他们的灵魂，这对一个省来说是很积极的因素。广东省的志向很明确，你们想进入全球的一级梯队，我认为你们在不远的将来就能达成这个目标。

我觉得相比两年前，五年前和十年前，所有的中国工业都变得越来越专业。

我印象最深的是中国的发展速度。中国是一个庞大的国家，但通过你们的精妙管理，这个国家的大部分正在以超高速发展。维系一个大国快速发展是一件相当困难的事情。这是我在世界上其它国家都没有见到的情景。

中文撰文：王凯