January 19 (Brussels time) - Manneken Pis (a small bronze fountain sculpture depicting a naked little boy urinating into the fountain's basin), a world famous Brussels landmark, already wore in traditional Chinese costume early in the day. The little cute boy wearing the red traditional Chinese clothes attracted the tourists to stop and watch him.
As related, the Manneken Pis-little pee boy Julien wearing in traditional Chinese costume is a decision of the Brussels city to welcome the official opening of ICBC's Branch in Brussels on January 19. It is already a practice for many heads of state while visiting Belgium to give traditional costumes of their countries for Julien to wear.
In spite of this, this is the first time in the history for Brussels to welcome a company and let Julien wearing the clothing of the country where the company comes from. The move clearly indicates the warm welcome and celebration from Belgium and Brussels to ICBC's Brussels Branch.
Economy and trade between China and Belgium witness very fast strong growth in the last few years. Bilateral trades between the two countries doubled during the 3-year period from 2006 to 2008. Despite the global financial crisis, bilateral trades between the two countries in 2009 were still a historic high of USD 20.
5 billion, and continued to grow 7% in the first half of 2010. The growth of 29% in the Belgium's export to China showed the strong momentum. At present, nuclear energy, aeronautics, pharmaceutical are some of the areas that two countries are making progress in sharing experience and finding new ways.
The good momentum will be continued and expanded to other areas such as aviation, electronic and automobile. ICBC has always attached high importance to Belgian market. The Bank takes various approaches like working with the Belgian banks or through its European subsidiaries to serve the trade and economic progress between China and Belgium.
The new ICBC Brussels Branch will offer full range of financial services including loan and deposits, settlement, trade finance and investment banking. It will act as the bridge and link for Chinese and Belgian companies to engage trade and investment activities between the two countries. Brussels Branch is located in the same place as the EU headquarters.
The Branch will take this unique geographical advantage to strengthen its relationship and offer excellent financial services to the headquarters of many large corporations and international organizations, including European Union's headquarters.
As related, the opening of Brussels Branch was the second stop of ICBC's plan to build presence in Europe. ICBC opened Paris Branch on January 18 and Brussels Branch on the 19th. In nearly a week, ICBC will also host ceremonies for the opening of Amsterdam Branch, Milan Branch and Madrid Branch. The five new European branches at the same time shows the strong confidence of ICBC in gaining foothold in Europe despite the recent issues in Europe economy during this special period.
ICBC is the largest commercial bank in China. ICBC maintains market leading position in almost all commercial banking businesses in China backed by its solid customer base, cutting-edge IT technology and diversified product portfolio. ICBC is seeing a real acceleration in the performance and profitability since its simultaneous IPO in Shanghai and Hong Kong in 2006.
Today, ICBC is the most profitable commercial bank in the world with the largest market capitalization and the largest customer deposits. In recent years ICBC has escalated its international presence through new branches and acquisitions and scaled up its overseas subsidiaries and business areas to offer financial services across the globe.
As of today, ICBC has a global network comprising 203 overseas subsidiaries in 28 countries/regions and 1453 correspondent banks in 132 countries/regions spreading over five continents of Asia, Africa, Europe, America and Australia, offering services to customers in different markets across the world.
On January 19, the world famous landmark, Manneken Pis is dressed in traditional Chinese costume to celebrate the opening of ICBC Brussels Branch in Brussels, Belgium.
