On August 25, the whole Beijing city is still immersed in the festive atmosphere of Olympics, which has just concluded. On both sides of the wide roads in the embassy area of Chaoyang District, chinar and ginkgo are swinging in breeze and Beijing Olympic Flag, Chinese National Flag and National Flags of different countries are contrasting finely with each other.
At No. 6 of Sanlitun, the official residence of Belgium Embassy is decorated with flowers in full blossoms, with corn poppies especially eye-catching. At 11:30 a.m., Liang Wengen, the Chairman of Sany Heavy Industry, and Xiang Wenbo, the President, arrived at the embassy in a black limo.
At the gate of the new guest hall, Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme and the Belgian Ambassador to China Pierre Bernard met Liang and Xiang in warm greetings.
Liang told the prime minister that Ambassador Bernard had visited Sany, "Mr. Ambassador has visited our company headquarters, and I should thank him for organizing the meeting."
Then, they entered the hall and sat down.
Sany is intended to invest in Belgium to boost international presence and European business, and the meeting was aimed to deepen mutual understanding and to seek cooperation.
"We will be delighted to serve world leading companies like Sany," Leterme said after a presentation of Sany. He added that Belgian government would provide Sany with best solutions to support Sany business development in Belgium. Leterme also introduced Belgium, highlighting the country's business environment, geographical advantage, full support of logistics industry and investment incentives, to Liang.
Liang thanked Leterme for his speech. He said Belgium is a great country with a strong economy and friendly people. Liang said he had visited Belgium before and was impressed by Belgium's environment and culture to gain greater confidence about investing in Belgium.
The banquet started at 12:18, hosted by Prime Minister Leterme for Liang and Xiang. On banquet table, the two sides talked about Olympics in a relaxed and friendly manner.
Leterme told Liang that the seat Liang was on had just served Belgium gold medal winner in Olympics high jump, Tia Hellebaut. "Congratulations to the gold medal of Belgium!" Liang said.
Leterme also highly appraised Chinese athletes'performance at the Olympics. He said the event has improved China's national and business image and will facilitate economic and cultural communication between China and foreign countries, including Belgium.
As the meeting ended, Liang gave a portrait to Leterme, a Leterme portrait by famous Chinese Artist Cheng Baohong, and Laterme said cheerfully, "it is a lovely memory of Belgium!"
Belgian foreign minister De Gucht also joined the meeting.
By Liu Jing, Zhong Ninghuai, Beijing
