Visit to the Governor of the Province of Limburg

　　　On April 23, Ambassador Hayashi payed a visit to Mr. Herman Reynders, Governor of the Province of Limburg, at the Provincial Government Building (Provinciehuis) in Hasselt.
　　　Governor Reynders explained economic advantages of the Province of Limburg, such as its strategic location as a logistics base, thanks to its geographical closeness to the Netherlands and Germany, as well as the Albert Canal connecting the Port of Antwerp to Liege, which passes by the city of Hasselt. He also emphasized the high quality of labour force of the Province with the ability of communication in foreign languages, and explained his expectation for receiving more Japanese companies to do business there.
　　　Ambassador Hayashi explained some measures which would stimulate economic exchanges between Japan and Belgium, including the Province of Limburg, such as the Tax Convention between Japan and Belgium signed in October 2016, and the Japan-EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) whose negotiations were finalised in December 2017.
　　　Together with representatives of VOKA (Flemish Chamber of Commerce and Industry) Limburg, University of Hasselt and Japanese and local companies, the Governor and the Ambassador discussed how to strengthen the relationship between Japan and the Province of Limburg.

(copyright : Robin Reynders – Province of Limburg – Belgium)